DUBLIN. 


AN    HISTORICAL     SKETCH 


IRELAND'S   METROPOLIS. 


EDITED   BY   THOMAS   0.    SUMMERS,    D.D, 


NasljbilLe,  fRtnn. : 
SOUTHERN  METHODIST  PUBLISHING  HOUSE. 

1860. 


STEREOTYPED    AND    PRINTED    BY    A.    A.    STITT, 
SOUTHBEK    METHODIST    PUBLISHING    HOUSB,    NASHVILLE,    TENN. 


xtixtt* 


It  is  proposed  to  give  in  this  small  volume, 
some  account  of  a  city  which  rules  and  graces 
one  of  the  finest  bays  of  the  ocean — the  me- 
tropolis of  a  country  fraught  with  industrial 
resources  beyond  what  most  others  possess, 
and  peopled  by  a  race  proverbial  for  intelli- 
gence and  hospitality,  and  certainly  not  in- 
ferior to  their  neighbors  in  many  qualities 
necessary  to  form  a  prosperous  and  influen- 
tial community. 

2959    ; 

3ST0N  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
HESTNUT  HILL,  MA,  02167      s/ 


C  0  n  t  *  tt  i  s 


Page 
PREFACE  V 

SECTION  I. 

DUBLIN  PREVIOUS  TO  THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY 7 

SECTION  IL 

DUBLIN    SUBJECT    TO    THE    ENGLISH    PAPAL   RULE....       29 

SECTION  IIL  " 

DUBLIN   DURING   THE    BRITISH   REFORMATION 60 

SECTION  IV. 

DUBLIN  UNDER  JAMES  I.  AND  CHARLES  1 89 

SECTION  V. 

DUBLIN     AT     THE     COMMONWEALTH,     THE     RESTORA- 
TION,  AND    THE    REVOLUTION Ill 

SECTION  VI. 

DUBLIN    IN   THE    EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY 135 

SECTION  VII. 

DUBLIN   SINCE    THE  UNION  WITH   GREAT   BRITAIN   TO 

THE    YEAR    EIGHTEEN    HUNDRED   AND    FIFTY 168 


DUBLIN. 


SECTION  I. 

DUBLIN  PREVIOUS  TO  THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY. 

The  earliest  authentic  notice  of  Dublin  occurs 
in  the  geography  of  Ptolemy,  who  flourished  in 
the  second  century  of  our  era.  His  description 
of  the  world  as  then  known  begins  with  Hibernia, 
an  honor  which  the  country  received  from  him 
because  of  its  being  the  most  western  in  Europe. 
His  map  of  Ireland  is  much  more  correct  in  its 
outline  than  the  one  he  has  furnished  of  Great 
Britain  :  in  the  latter,  the  portion  now  called 
Scotland  is  made  to  bend  off  eastward,  nearly  at 
a  right  angle  from  the  southern  portion.  He 
marks  "Eblana"  just  where  Dublin  at  present 
stands,  and  he  describes  it  as  " ttoXic"  a  city. 
The  people  inhabiting  the  range  northward  as  far 
as  the  river  Boyne,  including  part  of  Meath,  he 
calls  "Eblani,"  probably  as  belonging  or  subject 
to  "Eblana,"  though  some  conjecture  that  the 
place  took  its  name  from  the  people,  not  the 
people  theirs  from  the  place. 

That  the  words  "Dublin"  and  "Eblana"  were 

(7) 


8  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS    TO 

at  first  one,  is  obvious.  Indeed,  it  has  been  more 
than  supposed  that  a  letter  has  been  lost  from  the 
original,  and  that  Ptolemy  wrote  "Z>eblana." 
"Dublin"  is  composed  of  .two  Irish  words, — 
"Dubh,"  black,  and  "Linn,"  -water — the  river 
which  here  empties  itself  into  the  sea  being  of  a 
dark  color,  from  its  fit  wing  over  a  bog. 

The  city  was  otherwise  called  "  Ath-Cliath," 
the  "Hurdle-Ford,"  and  "  Bally  Ath-Cliath,"  the 
"Town  of  the  Hurdle-Ford."  Both  names  in- 
dicate that  a  passage  was  here  made  or  marked 
by  "hurdles"  across  the  stream.  Tradition  re- 
ports that  it  was  constructed  for  more  safely  con- 
veying sheep  from  one  side  to  the  other;  but 
whether  it  had  at  all  the  form  of  a  "  suspension- 
bridge"  the  account  does  not  explain. 

A  fourth  name  given  to  the  city  in  olden  time, 
was  "  Drooni-Choll-Coil,"  the  "  Brow  of  a  Hazel- 
Wood,"  from  its  occupying  the  upper  front  of  a 
rise  of  ground,  other  parts  of  which  were  covered 
with  a  wood  of  the  kind  mentioned. 

Dublin  must  have  been  in  Ptolemy's  day,  by 
report  at  least,  a  place  of  some  size  and  import- 
ance, or  he  would  not  have  styled  it  a  "city." 
We  should,  however,  greatly  mistake  if  we  con- 
ceived it  to  have  been  then  an  aggregation  of 
houses,  streets,  and  public  buildings,  such  as  the 
word  suggests  to  us  now.  "  The  ancient  Irish 
were  at  no  trouble  in  providing  for  themselves 
habitations  of  solid  and  lasting  materials.  Their 
houses  were  built  of  twigs  and  hurdles,  and 
covered  with  sedge  or  straw."  Buildings  of 
stone  and  mortar  are  believed  to  have  been  un- 


THE   ELEVENTH   CENTURY.  9 

known  in  Ireland  before  the  sixth  century.  For 
the  introduction  of  what  we  call  "architecture," 
the  country  is  indebted  to  Christianity.  The 
population  of  "Eblana"  were  unacquainted  with 
our  often  costly  and  trouble-causing  superfluities 
of  boarded  floors,  glazed  windows,  paved  ways, 
gas-lights,  scavengering,  sewerage,  and  police — ■ 
matters  which  we  moderns  are  apt  to  reckon 
among  the  necessaries  of  life.  Let  the  reader, 
for  a  moment,  in  his  conception  sweep  away  the 
present  "  Dublin  ;"  then  group,  without  much  re- 
gard to  order,  a  few  hundred  "  cabins,"  some  of 
them  larger  than  the  rest,  along  the  upper  part 
of  the  range  fronting  the  Liifey,  from  Cork  Hill 
to  Bridge  street ;  next,  clothe  the  top  and  south- 
ern descent  of  the  ridge  with  a  hazel-wood,  which 
he  may  also  carry  round  the  eastern  and  western 
sides  of  the  "city,"  and  along  between  it  and 
the  river;  finally,  let  him  place  a  "  hurdle-ford" 
where  Whitworth  Bridge  now  stands ;  and  he 
will  perhaps  have  as  correct  an  idea  of  Ptolemy's 
"  Eblana"  as  a  model  by  Brunetti  could  supply. 

Three  orders  of  royalty  then  existed  in  Ireland. 
The  country  had  its  unity,  its  divisions,  and  its 
subdivisions  of  sovereignty.  It  was  parcelled  out 
under  a  large  number  of  toparchs,  or  petty  chiefs, 
each  of  whom  bore  the  title  of  {'  king,"  as  was  the 
case  in  the  early  times  of  Palestine  and  its  neigh- 
bor lands.  Above  these  were  five  provincial 
monarchs,  "kings"  of  a  higher  grade.  One  of 
the  five  reigned  over  all,  as  "king  of  Ireland:" 
his  palace  was  on  the  hill  of  Tarah,  in  Meath, 
where  he  triennially  convened  the  states  of  his 


10  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS   TO 

realm,  for  enacting  laws  and  other  national  busi- 
ness, and  where  he  entertained  his  dignitaries 
with  hospitality  and  magnificence  worthy  of  his 
supremacy.  "Eblana"  had  its  "king,"  one  of 
the  lowest  order  of  royal  personages. 

The  food  of  the  common  people  of  ancient  Ire- 
land is  said  to  have  been  "very  mean  and  slen- 
der—  namely,  milk,  butter,  and  herbs:  from 
whence,"  writes  Ware,  "the  Epitome  of  Strabo 
calls  the  Irish  herb-eaters."  The  gentry  and 
nobility  lived  in  higher  style.  Had  we  entered 
a  banqueting-hall  of  the  Eblani  on  a  great  festi- 
val day,  we  might  have  found  the  company  re- 
clining on  couches  of  grass  or  rushes,  round  a 
table  furnished  with  griddle-baked  bread,  milk- 
meats,  and  varieties  of  fish  and  flesh,  both  boiled 
and  roast.  The  cup,  too,  made  of  wood,  or  horn, 
or  brass,  filled  with  beer  or  mead  —  "whisky" 
was  then  unknown  —  was  passed  joyfully  from 
guest  to  guest,  while  the  metal-strung  harp,  obe- 
dient to  the  touch  of  skill  and  taste,  sent  forth 
stirring  sounds,  with  which  oft  mingled  those  of 
the  martial  drum,  accompanying  the  bard's  recital 
of  warm  affection,  of  illustrious  ancestry,  and  of 
heroic  deeds. 

Of  trade  and  commerce  Eblana  had  not  much 
to  boast:  none  of  its  people  ranked  as  "merchant 
princes."  Its  Liffey  was  not  crowded  with  ship- 
ping which  brought  in  the  produce  of  other  lands, 
or  bore  away  the  growth  and  manufacture  of  its 
own.  The  risk  incurred  in  crossing  the  bar  from 
the  sea,  except  at  certain  times  of  the  tide,  to- 
gether with  the  scanty  demands  for  articles  of 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        11 

which  there  was  not  a  home  supply,  made  the 
arrival  of  a  foreign  vessel  an  "  event"  as  great  as 
was  the  visit  of  a  European  or  American  ship  at 
Hawaii  or  Tahiti  fifty  years  ago.  The  Eblani 
had  pasturage  for  cattle  and  sheep.  They  were 
also  engaged  in  agriculture,  though  of  a  some- 
what humble  order — the"~Irish  plough  being,  cen- 
turies later,  a  small  wooden  instrument  tied  to 
the  tail  of  an  ox  or  a  "hobby."  Fishing  was 
common.  Their  boats  were  of  tw6  kinds  :  one,  a 
canoe  formed  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and  called 
a  "  Cotti,"  of  which  a  specimen  is  to  be  seen  in 
the  Royal  Dublin  Society's  Museum.  The  other, 
called  a  "  Corragh,"  consisted  of  a  frame  of 
wicker-work  covered  with  hides,  larger,  longer, 
and  otherwise  more  adapted  for  sea-work,  but  in 
materials  and  structure  like  the  "corracles"  still 
used  on  rivers  in  Wales  and  adjoining  parts.  It 
was  in  a  "  corragh"  that  Columba  with  his  twelve 
companions  went  from  Ireland  to  Iona,  in  the 
sixth  century. 

Learning  and  refinement  among  the  Eblani  can 
be  judged  of  only  from  what  is  known  of  the  Irish 
in  general  of  those  times,  and  even  that  informa- 
tion is  scanty  and  precarious.  The  Ogham  in- 
scriptions are  of  a  very  high  antiquity.  We  are 
told  of  schools  at  Tarah,  where  youths  were  trained 
for  sacred  and  civic  duties.  The  Irish  warriors 
were  "  sworn  to  be  the  protectors  of  the  fair,  and 
avengers  of  their  wrongs;  and  to  be  polite  in 
word  and  address  to  their  greatest  enemies." 
"  A  character  without  guile  or  deceit  was  esteemed 
the  highest  that  could  be  given  among  the  ancient 


12  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS   TG 

Irish,  and  the  favorite  panegyric  of  a  bard  to  his 
hero  would  be  that  he  had  a  heart  incapable  of 
guile. "  The  Irish  were  early  acquainted  with  the 
game  of  chess.  Their  harp  and  song,  too,  have 
attained  a  world-wide  fame.  The  former  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  kept  "  sacredly  unaltered" 
from  the  ages  we  are  speaking  of  down  to  com- 
paratively modern  date,  when  Drayton  wrote : — 

"  The  Irish  I  admire, 
And  still  cleare  to  that  lyre 

As  our  muse's  mother, 
And  think,  till  I  expire, 

Apollo's  such  another." 

Bacon  pronounced,  "No  harp  hath  the  sound  so 
melting  and  prolonged  as  the  Irish  harp ;"  and 
Evelyn  wrote  :  "  Such  music  before  or  since  did 
I  never  hear — that  instrument  being  neglected 
for  its  extraordinary  difficulty;  but  in  my  judg- 
ment being  far  superior  to  the  lute  itself,  or  what- 
ever speaks  with  strings/'  Ancient  Erin  was  the 
home  of  poetic  genius.  Feargus,  called  "  Fion- 
bell,  or  the  Sweet-voiced,"  was  one  of  its  most 
distinguished  bards.  An  ode  of  his  composition, 
delivered  extempore,  is  said  to  have  succeeded  in 
blending  in  peace  and  friendship  two  chiefs, 
"Gaul  the  Son  of  Morni,"  and  "Finn  of  the 
flowing  locks,"  who,  with  their  respective  follow- 
ers, had  met  on  a  field  of  strife  to  contend  for 
spoils  they  had  jointly  won  from  a  common  foe. 
The  following  lines,  from  a  translation  of  his 
"War  Ode"  to  Osgar,  the  son  of  Ossian,  at  the 
battle  of  Graura,  when  leading  on  his  troops  against 
Cairbre,  the  monardh.  of  Ireland,  towards  the  close 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        13 

of  the  third  century,  present   a   thought  truly 
sublime  : — 

"  Thine  be  the  battle,  thine  the  sway  ! 
On,  on  to  Cairbre  hew  thy  conquering  way, 
And  let  thy  deathful  arm  dash  safety  from  his  side ! 
As  the  proud  wave,  on  whose  broad  back 
The  storm  its  burden  heaves, 
Drives  on  the  scattered  wreck 
Its  ruin  leaves  ; 
So  let  thy  sweeping  progress  roll, 
Fierce,  resistless,  rapid,  strong — - 
Pour,  like  the  billow  of  the  flood,  o'erwhelming  might 
along." 

The  Cromlechs  in  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin 
— one  near  the  Hill  of  Howth,  another  on  the 
south  of  Killiney  Hill,  and  another  at  Cabin- 
teely,  about  a  mile  westward — show  that  Druidism 
was  the  religion  of  the  Eblani,  as  it  was  of  other 
parts  of  the  country.  In  due  form  and  solemnity 
their  priests  ministered  at  the  altar  within  the 
circle  of  stones,  presenting,  on  behalf  of  the  con- 
gregation outside  the  sacred  enclosure,  sacrifices 
and  other  homages  to  their  Baalim,  the  sun,  the 
moon,  and  the  host  of  heaven.  Holocausts  of 
human  beings  were  among  the  rites  prescribed 
by  that  superstition.  Fire  was  an  object  of  wor- 
ship, perhaps  by  tradition  from  the  Shechina-h. 
Mountains  and  trees,  also,  are  said  to  have  had 
divine  honors  paid  to  them.  Groves  of  the  oak 
were  not  wanting  to  aid  devotion,  and  afford 
growth  to  the  mistletoe.  Then,  as  now,  the  faith 
of  the  people  hung  pieces  of  cloth  on  branches 
near  a  "  holy  well/'  to  imbibe-  from  the  presence 


14  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS   TO 

there  a  virtue  which  might  be  carried  away  and 
applied  for  the  removal  of  disease,  or  /or  some 
other  useful  purpose.  Moreover,  the  invisible, 
but,  when  angered,  desolating  Wind,  was  held  in 
awe  and  propitiated,  lest,  neglected,  it  should 
break  forth  in  fury  and  spread  havoc  around.  It 
was  a  prevailing  opinion  that  the  Round  Towers, 
of  which  there  is  one  at  Clondalkin,  about  three 
miles  west  of  Dublin,  and  another  at  Swords,  six 
miles  north  of  the  city,  were  Fire-temples.  But 
Dr.  Petrie  seems  to  have  exhausted  the  argument, 
upon  the  subject,  and  concludes  that  they  are 
buildings  connected  with  Christianity. 

It  is  certain  that  the  gospel  had  found  its  way 
into  Ireland  previously  to  the  fifth  century,  in  the 
early  part  of  which,  as  Prosper' s  Chronicle  re- 
cords, Palladius  was  sent  by  Celestine,  bishop  of 
Rome,  "to  the  Scots  believing  in  Christ/'  Ire- 
land being  then  called  ."  Scotia,"  and  its  inha- 
bitants "  Scoti,"  or  Scots.  How,  when,  or  by 
whom  the  Christian  faith  first  came  into  the 
country,  we  know  not,  but  the  honor  of  converting 
the  Irish  nation  is  commonly  ascribed  to  St. 
Patrick,  who  came  to  evangelize  them,  shortly 
after  the  mission  and  death  of  Palladius.  Sir 
William  Betham,  however,  than  whom  few  anti- 
quaries have  given  more  attention  to  the  question, 
thinks  that  the  true  Patrick,  whose  labors  so  emi- 
nently contributed  to  Christianize  the  people, 
lived  and*  did  his  work  long  before  Palladius  ex- 
isted. Without  entering  upon  that  inquiry,  we 
may  notice  the  account  which  a  tradition  gives  of 
the  gospel  being  brought  to  Dublin.     It  is,  that 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        15 

Patrick,  having  preached  with  great  success  in 
Ulster  and  Con  naught,  came  into  Meath  and 
Leinster,  and  took  Dublin  on  his  way  southward  : 
that  having  crossed  the  Finglass  river  to  the 
rising  ground  within  a  mile  of  the  city,  perhaps 
near  the  site  of  Phibbsborough,  he  pronounced 
upon  it  a  prophetic  benediction,  affirming  that 
the  city  "should  increase  in  riches  and  dignities, 
until  at  length  it  should  be  lifted  up  unto  the 
throne  of  the  kingdom  :"  that  when  he  reached 
Dublin  he  preached  to  the  king,  Alphin  Mac 
Eochaid,  and  his  subjects,  who  received  the 
divine  message,  and  were  baptized  at  a  well, 
south  of  the  city;  and  that  the  saint  founded  a 
church  near  this  well,  where  now  stands  St. 
Patrick's  cathedral.  This  is  said  to  have  oc- 
curred in  the  year  -148.  The  detail  is  not  vouched 
for  by  high  authority,  but  it  is  the  only  one  that 
tradition  has  preserved. 

We  have  good  evidence  that  the  religion 
taught  by  Patrick,  properly  so  called,  was  not 
that  decreed  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  professed 
in  the  creed  of  Pope  Pius  IV.,  and  disseminated 
by  the  propagandas  of  Rome  and  Lyons.  In 
other  words,  it  much  more  resembled  New  Tes- 
tament Christianity  than  modern  Homanism. 
Patrick  found  a  number  of  churches  and  bishops 
in  Ireland.  He  himself  formed  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  churches,  and  ordained  over  them 
an  equal  number  of  bishops,  and  three  thousand 
presbyters ;  but  he  subjected  none  of  them  to 
the  Roman  see.  The  worship  of  the  Virgin, 
transubstantiation,  the  adoration  of  images,  re- 


16  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS   TO 

stricting  the  reading  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and 
many  other  things  now  insisted  upon  as  parts  of 
the  gospel,  were  not  then  recognized  even  "by  the 
Church  at  Rome.  In  the  transactions  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy  is  published  a  translation, 
by  Dr.  Petrie,  of  a  hymn  composed  by  St.  Patrick 
when  he  was  about  to  visit  Temur,  or  Tarah, 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  Leogaire,  the  monarch 
of  all  Ireland.  The  visit  was  critical  to  Patrick 
himself,  and  to  the  cause  he  was  embarked  in. 
The  adherents  of  the  old  paganism  were  prepared 
to  withstand,  as  best  they  could,  the  assault  he 
was  about  to  make  upon  it  in  its  highest  places. 
Though  it  be  not  connected  with  Dublin  in  par- 
ticular, yet,  as  throwing  light  on  the  doctrine 
which  Patrick  taught  there,  this  "  Hymn"  will 
be  interesting  to  the  reader,  and  he  shall  have 
the  translation  of  it  before  him  entire  : 

"At  Temur/'  [that  is,  Tarah,  the  court  of  the 
king,]  "  to-day  I  invoke  the  mighty  power  of  the 
Trinity.  I  believe  in  the  Trinity  under  the  God 
of  the  elements. 

"At  Temur  to-day  (I  place)  the  virtue  of  the 
birth  of  Christ  with  his  baptism,  the  virtue  of 
his  crucifixion  with  his  burial,  the  virtue,  of  his 
resurrection  with  his  ascension,  the  virtue  of  his 
coming  to  the  eternal  judgment. 

"At  Temur  to-day  (I  place)  the  virtue  of  the 
love  of  Seraphim,  (the  virtue  which  exists)  in 
the  obedience  of  angels,  in  the  hope  of  the  resur- 
rection to  eternal  reward,  in  the  prayers  of  the 
noble  fathers,  in  the  predictions  of  the  prophets, 
in  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  in  the  faith  of 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        17 

the  confession,  in  the  purity  of  the  holy  virgins, 
in  the  deeds  of  just  men. 

"At  Temur  to-day  (I  place)  the  strength  of 
heaven,  the  light  of  the  sun,  the  rapidity  of 
lightning,  the  swiftness  of  the  wind,  the  depth 
of  the  sea,  the  stability  of  the  earth,  the  hardness 
of  rocks  (between  me  and  the  powers  of  paganism 
and  demons.) 

"At  Temur  to-day  may  the  strength  of  God 
pilot  me,  may  the  power  of  God  preserve  me, 
may  the  wisdom  of  God  instruct  me,  may  the  eye 
of  God  view  me,  may  the  ear  of  God  hear  me, 
may  the  word  of  God  render  me  eloquent,  may 
the  hand  of  God  protect  me,  may  the  .mercy  of 
God  direct  me,  may  the  shield  of  God  defend  me, 
may  the  host  of  God  guard  me,  against  the  snares" 
of  demons,  the  temptations  of  vices,  the  inclina- 
tions of  the  mind,  against  every  man  who  medi- 
tates evil  to  me,  far  or  near,  alone  or  in  company. 

"I  place  all  these  powers  between  me  and 
every  evil  unmerciful  power  directed  against  my 
body,  (as  a  protection)  against  the  incantations  of 
false  prophets ;  against  the  black  laws  of  gentil- 
ism ;  against  the  false  laws  of  heresy;  against 
the  treachery  of  idolatry ;  against  the  spells  of 
women,  snaiths,  and  Druids;  against  every  know- 
ledge which  binds  the  soul  of  man.  May  Christ 
to-day  protect  me  against  poison,  against  burn- 
ing, against  drowning,  against  wounding,  until 
I  deserve  much  reward. 

"  Christ  be  with  me,  Christ  before  me,  Christ 
after  me,  Christ  in  me,  Christ  under  me,  Christ 
over  me,  Christ  at  my  right,  Christ  at  my  left, 


18  DUBLIN    PREVIOUS    TO 

Christ  at  this  side,  Christ  at  that  side;  Christ  at 
raj  back. 

"  Christ  be  in  the  heart  of  each  person  whom 
I  speak  to  j  Christ  in  the  mouth  of  each  person 
who  speaks  to  me ;  Christ  in  each  eye  that  sees 
me  ',   Christ  in  each  ear  which  hears  me. 

"At  Temur  to-day  I  invoke  the  almighty  power 
of  the  Trinity.  I  believe  in  the  Trinity  under 
the  unity  of  the  Grod  of  the  elements. 

"  Salvation  is  the  Lord's,  salvation  is  the 
Lord's,  salvation  is  Christ's.  May  thy  salvation, 
0  Lord,  be  always  with  me." 

The  above  document,  of  the  genuineness  of 
which  no^  doubt  appears  to  exist,  may  not  pre- 
sent the  trust  of  Christian  piety  in  the  clear  and 
strong  light  of  New  Testament  instruction.  It 
corresponds  rather  with  the  mysticism  which  had 
begun  to  creep  over  the  Church  about  the  time  of 
Jerome.  But  it  shows  ji  heart  that  looked  for 
help  to  Christ  alone  as  God  our  Saviour.  It  gives 
no  token  of  the  "  ever  Blessed  and  Immaculate 
Virgin,"  the  "never-failing  Star  of  Hope,"  the 
"  Help  of  Christians,"  the  "  Most  Holy  Mother," 
being  "  constantly  and  fervently  invoked,"  "  as 
the  general  patroness  of  all  Ireland,"  as  the 
synod  at  Thurles,  in  the  year  1850,  prescribed 
she  should  be  ;  although,  if  at  any  time  that 
zealous  and  devout  man,  St.  Patrick,  had  judged 
it  right  and  useful  to  seek  her  aid,  he  surely 
would  have  implored  it  under  the  circumstances 
which  led  him  to  compose  the  "Hymn"  given 
above. 

The  notices  which  we  have  of  Dublin  previous 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        19 

to  the  arrival  of  the  Danes,  an  event  which  is 
believed  to  have  occurred  towards  the  close  of 
the  fifth  century,  are  extremely  meagre  and  un- 
certain. Almost  the  only  item  of  information 
beyond  what  has  been  stated,  is  that  about  the 
beginning  of  the  third  century  a  division  was 
made  of  the  country  into  two  portions,  by  a  line 
running  direct  across  it  from  Dublin  on  the  east 
coast  to  G-alway  on  the  west.  The  northern  por- 
tion or  kingdom  was  called  Leath  Quinn,  or 
the  Half  of  Quinn  or  Conn,  and  the  southern  was 
called  Leath  Mogha,  or  the  Half  of  Eoghan,  or 
Mogha,  king  of  Munster.  The  termination  of 
the  separation  line  eastward  is  said  to  have  been 
where  High  street  now  stands. 

The  Danes  were  usually  called  "  Ostmen,"  or 
men  from  the  east,  in  Ireland,  as  in  England  and 
France  they  were  called  "  Northmen,"  or  Nor- 
mans, men  from  the  north — the  name  being  given 
in  each  case  according  to  the  relative  position  of 
the  country  whence  they  came.  It  is  not  unlikely 
that  their  first  landing  at  Dublin  was  for  trade 
rather  than  for  war  or  plunder.  The  place  of 
their  settlement  was  styled  "  Ostmantown,"  now 
changed  into  "  Oxmantown,"  a  district  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Liffey,  at  present  partly  occu- 
pied by  the  Royal  Barracks,  and  perhaps  nearly 
answering  to  Arran  Quay  "Ward  in  the  municipal 
divisions  of  the  city.  Some  respectable  authori- 
ties maintain  that  the  Danes  were  unknown  in 
Ireland  till  near  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century. 

Dr.  Lanigan,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
Ireland,  not  only  rejects  the  story  of  the  inhabit- 


20  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS   TO 

ants  of  Dublin  and  their  king  having  been  con- 
verted  by  the  preaching  of  St.  Patrick,  but  states 
that  the  city  had  no  bishop  till  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury. In  the  latter  particular  he  is  in  error,  un- 
less by  a  "  bishop"  he  intends  a  prelate  of  the 
Romish  Church.  The  name  of  seven  persons  who 
were  bishops  of  Dublin  during  the  seventh  and 
eighth  centuries  are  given  by  Ware.  There  were 
also  monastic  establishments  formed  at  Kilmain- 
ham,  Clonclalkin,  Tallaght,  and  a  few  other  places 
in  the  vicinity.  In  those  times,  Ireland  was 
eminent  for  her  schools  of  learning,  and  for  the 
piety  and  zeal  of  her  monks.  About  the  year 
564,  St.  Columba  and  twelve  companions  left  the 
country  and  settled  in  Iona.*  Other  monks  from 
Ireland  located  themselves  and  labored  with  much 
zeal  in  the  north  of  England.  Many  others,  again, 
passed  over  to  the  continent,  and  devoted  them- 
selves to  Christianize  and  civilize  its  then  barbar- 
ous population,  until  the  power  of  Rome's  bishop 
obliged  them  to  conform  or  flee.  What  propor- 
tion, or  whether  any,  of  these  earnest  men  went 
from  Dublin  or  its  neighborhood  is  unknown. 

The  venerable  Bede  records  that,  in  the 
seventh  century,  numbers  of  the  nobility  and 
others  of  England  went  over  to  Ireland,  on  ac- 
count of  the  advantages  it  afforded  above  their 
own  country  for  education  and  religious  improve- 
ment. Among  the  persons  of  high  rank  who 
thus  made  it  a  temporary  residence,  was  Alfrid,  a 

*  For  information  on  this  point,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  Dr.  Alexander's  volume  on  Iona,  in  our  catalogue. 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        21 

son  of  Oswin,  the  king  of  Northumberland.  Os- 
win, urged  by  the  agents  of  Rome  to  recognize 
her  rule,  held  an  assembly  for  discussing  in  his 
presence  the  difference  pf  opinion  between  them 
and  the  Irish  monks — who  till  then  had  minister- 
ed to  his  people — respecting  the  observance  of 
Easter.  The  design  of  the  conference  was  to 
supply  argument  which  would  enable  the  king  to 
form  a  sound  judgment  for  his  own  guidance.  In 
the  end,  Oswin,  to  make  himself  sure  of  the  favor 
of  Peter,  who  was  represented  as  holding  the  keys 
of  heaven,  gave  his  verdict  in  favor  of  the  Roman 
clergy,  and  the  Irish  monks  were  obliged  forth- 
with to  leave  Northumbria  and  return  to  their 
native  land.  On  the  death  of  Oswin,  his  son 
Egfrid  succeeded  him  in  the  throne,  and  Alfrid, 
his  other  son,  withdre%  to  Ireland,  dreading  his 
brother's  jealousy.  In  June,  684,  Egfrid  sent 
an  expedition,  under  a  commander  named  Beret, 
against  the  district  caljed  Bergia,  lying  between 
Dublin  and  Drogheda.  The  marauders  spared 
neither  laity  nor  clergy,  things  sacred  nor  things 
secular,  and  bore  away  with  them  "  many  cap- 
tives and  much  booty."  It  is  possible  that  the 
favorable  treatment  given  to  Alfrid  may  have 
provoked  this  outrage.  Alfrid  is  said  to  have 
become,  while  in  Ireland,  "  a  man  most  learned 
in  the  Scriptures/'  and  "  highly  qualified  for  be- 
ing placed  at  the  head  of  a  state/'  which  position 
he  acquired  when  his  brother  died.  A~  poem, 
composed  by  Alfrid,  is  yet  extant  in  the  Irish 
language,  describing,  in  a  lively  strain,  what  he 
had  observed  in  travelling  through  various  parts 


22  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS    TO 

of  the  country.  It  is  too  long  to  be  inserted  en- 
tire, but  three  stanzas  may  be  transcribed  as  given 
in  a  translation : 

"I  found  the  good  lay  monks  and  brothers 
Ever  beseeching  help  for  others, 
And,  in  their  keeping,  the  holy  word 
Pure  as  it  came  from  Jesus  the  Lord. 

"  I  found  in  Leinster  the  smooth  and  sjeek, 
From  Dublin  to  Slewniargy's  peak, 
Flourishing  pastures,  valor,  health, 
Long-living  worthies,  commerce,  wealth. 

"I  found  in  Meath's  fair  principality, 
Virtue,  vigor,  and  hospitality, 
Candor,  joyfulness,  bravery,  purity — 
Ireland's  bulwark  and  security." 

With  regard  to  what  is*  said  of  the  Irish  monks 
"  ever  beseeching  help  for  others/'  the  reader 
will  observe  that  it  was  for  others,  not  for  them- 
selves, that  they  sought  assistance ;  and  it  ought 
to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Irish  monks  had  it 
as  a  law  that  they  were  not  to  live  upon  alms, 
but  were  to  support  themselves  by  their  own  in- 
dustry. The  mention  of  "  commerce"  in  Lein- 
ster naturally  refers  to  Dublin,  that  city  being, 
it  is  presumed,  the  principal,  if  not  then  the  only 
seaport  in  the  province.  Slewmargy  is  a  moun- 
tain in  the  Queen's  County.  In  the  third  of  the 
above  stanzas,  there  are  allusions  to  Tarah,  where 
the  monarch  of  all  Ireland  held  his  court. 

Supposing  the  Danes  to  have  settled  in  or  near 
Dublin,  as  before  noticed,  towards  the  close  of 
the  fifth  century,  they  must  have  lived  on  good 


,  THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        23 

terms  with  its  native  inhabitants,  for  we  have  no 
accounts  of  disagreements  between  the  two  parties 
till  about  the  year  838.     By  that  time,  however, 
they  appear  to  have  become  masters  of  the  place, 
and  their  power  had  so'increased  that  it  aroused 
the  fears  of  the  local  Irish  chiefs  around.     In 
851,  the  kings  of  Leinster  and  Meath  made  war 
upon  them,    expelled  them    from  the   city,   and 
gave  it  up  to  pillage  by  a  rude  soldiery.     But,  in 
the  year  following,  the  Danes  returned  in  great 
power,  regained  the  place,  fortified  it  with  a  wall 
and  towers,  and  crowned  their  leader,  Amlaffe, 
"  king"  of  Dublin.     He  built  himself  a  royal  re- 
sidence   at    Clondalkin.      Hostilities    frequently 
occurred  between  him  and  the  neighboring  princes; 
On  one  occasion  they  attacked  Clondalkin,  burned 
his    palace    there,  and  slew  a  hundred    of  his 
servants.     He  retaliated,  by  surprising  a  body  of 
their  followers,  two  thousand  in  number,  all  of 
whom  he  either  killed  or  made  prisoners.     He 
made  excursions   into  the  country,  and,  among 
other  successful    enterprises,  he   plundered  and 
burned  Armagh.     In  870,  he  and  his  son  Yvar 
crossed  the  channel  with  an  army  to  assist  their 
brethren,  the  Danes,  against  the  Saxons  in  Eng- 
land.     The  Ulster  Annals  relate    their   return 
thus :  "Amlaffe  and  Yvar  came  to  Ath-Cliath, 
out    of  Albany,   with   two   hundred   ships,  and 
brought  with  them  a  great  prey  of  English,  Bri- 
tons, and  Picts."     In  872,  Ostin  Mac  Amlaffe, 
king   of  Dublin,    invaded   the   Picts    of   North 
Britain  with  success,  but  was  afterwards  slain  by 
his  own  people.     On  the   other  hand,  in   890, 


24  DUBLIN   PREVIOUS    TO 

Dublin  was  taken  by  Gregory,  king  of  Scotland. 
Two  years  afterwards,  a  great  fleet  of  Danes  ar- 
rived in  the  Liffey,  to  assist  tbeir  countrymen, 
but  on  disembarking  they  were  routed  near  the 
city  with  great  slaughter.  In  916,  the  Danes 
sustained  the  greatest  defeat  they  ever  had  ex- 
perienced in  the  country ;  yet,  strange  to  record, 
in  that  same  year  they  ravaged  the  island  of  An- 
glesea;  and  in  three  years  more  they  vanquished 
and  slew  Neill  IV.,  king  of  Ireland,  in  a  battle 
near  their  city. 

The  long  recital  of  constantly  occurring  fights, 
maraudings,  and  bloodshed,  at  which  the  preced- 
ing paragraph  merely  affords  a  glance,  is  inter- 
rupted by  a  statement  that,  about  the  year  948, 
the  Danes  of  Dublin  renounced  heathenism  and 
embraced  Christianity.  As  will  appear  in  our 
next  section,  it  was  Christianity  as  then  Roman- 
ized, not  Christianity  as  it  existed  among  the 
native  Irish,  that  they  received.  This  circum- 
stance will  account  for  the  outrages  the  Danes  of 
Dublin  continued  to  practice  on  their  Irish  neigh- 
bors, so  strongly  complained  of  by  Dr.  Lanigan, 
the  ecclesiastical  historian  of  Ireland  :  "  These 
new  converts/'  he  writes,  "  did  not  imbibe  the 
meekness  prescribed  by  the  gospel ;  for  in  950," 
only  two  years  after  their  conversion,  "  the  Danes 
of  Dublin  plundered  and  burned  Slane ;  so  that 
many  persons  assembled  in  the  belfry  perished  in 
the  flames."  About  the  time  they  became  nomi- 
nally Christians,  they  founded  the  Abbey  of  St. 
Mary,  near  Ostmantown,  their  own  settlement. 
As  the  best  sites  were  chosen  for  such  establish- 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        25 

ments,  we  may  presume  that  the  portion  of  the 
city  now  traversed  by  Capel  street,  and  its 
branches  right  and  left,  was  then  a  spot  the  most 
eligible,  for  its  rich  soil,  lovely  position,  and  other 
conveniences,  that  the  Danes  had  at  their  com- 
mand in  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin. 

Rapin  informs  us  that  Edgar,  surnamed  the 
Peaceable,  king  of  England,  kept  a  fleet  of  four 
thousand  vessels,  by  which  he  not  only  protected 
his  own  dominions,  but  "  obliged  the  kings  of 
Wales,  Ireland,  and  the  Isle  of  Man,  to  swear 
allegiance  to  him,  and  acknowledge  him  for  sove- 
reign." This  account  of  the  extent  of  Edgar's 
rule  corresponds  with  statements  in  a  charter 
granted  by  him  at  Gloucester,  964.  In  that 
document  he  claims  to  have  subdued  under  his 
power,  "  by  the  propitious  grace  of  God,"  "  to- 
gether with  the  empire  of  the  English,  all  the 
•kingdoms  of  the  islands  of  the  ocean,  with  their 
fierce  kings,  as  far  as  Norway,  and  the  greatest 
part  of  Ireland,  with  its  most  noble  city,  Dublin." 
It  is  probable  that  the  "  king  of  Ireland,"  men- 
tioned in  Raping  is  the  Danish  king  of  Dublin, 
who  was  also  sovereign  of  all  the  Danes  in  other 
parts  of  the  country,  including  Limerick  and 
Waterford.  How  long  the  king  of  Dublin  re- 
mained subject  to  the  king  of  England  is  not 
reported  j  but  coins  exist,  which  were  struck  at 
"Dyfelin,"  or  Dublin,  bearing  the  name  of  Ethel- 
red,  who  was  next  but  one  in  succession  to 
Edgar  on  the  English  throne.  Consequently 
there  was  a  "mint"  in  the  city,  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  tenth  century. 


26  DUBLIN  PREVIOUS    TO 

The  year  980  saw  the  Danes  of  Dublin  routed 
by  Malachi,  king  of  Ireland,  in  an  engagement 
at  Tarah;  and  nine  years  afterwards,  the  same 
Malachi  assailed  them  in  their  own  quarters  in 
Dublin,  slew  great  numbers  of  them,  remained 
there  three-score  nights,  and  pressed  them  so 
close  in  their  camp  on  the  shore  outside  the  city, 
that  they  had  no  drink  but  the  salt  water.  At 
length  they  submitted,  and  agreed  to  pay  an  ounce 
of  gold  out  of  every  messuage  and  garden  in 
Dublin,  to  him  and  his  successors,  yearly  at 
Christmas. 

While  these  matters  were  transpiring,  another 
person  was  rising  in  power,  who  made  his  name 
one  of  the  most  famed  in  ancient  Irish  history. 
This  was  Brien  Boroomh,  king  of  Munster,  who 
ere  long  became  king  of  the  whole  country.  In 
the  year  999,  the  Dublin  Danes  ravaged  a  great 
part  of  Leinster,  and  brought  back,  among  other 
prisoners,  the  king  of  the  province,  who  was  one 
of  Brien' s  liegeman.  Brien,  on  hearing  this, 
marched  with  a  select  body  of  troops  to  Dublin, 
delivered  the  king  of  Leinster,  banished  the  Dan- 
ish king  Sitricus  beyond  the  seas,  burned  a  great 
part  of  the  city,  and  brought  away  a  considerable 
quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  with  manufactured 
goods  and  other  valuable  effects.  The  citizens 
gave  hostages,  and  were  allowed  to  repair  their 
works.  Brien  continued  to  pursue  his  conquests 
and  depredations  in  other  parts  of  Ireland.  In 
1013,  however,  the  king  of  Leinster  and  the 
Danes  of  Dublin  joined  in  a  league  against  him. 
He  laid  the  province  waste  to  the  very  walls  of 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY.        27 

the  city,  and,  early  in  the  following  year,  engaged 
many  of  the  Irish  princes  to  unite  with  him  in  a 
grand  effort  either  to  destroy  the  Danes,  or  com- 
pel them  to  quit  the  country  altogether.  Their 
monarch,  Sitricus,  with  the  Leinster  king,  were 
not  slow  in  -snaking  preparations  to  defeat  him. 
Aids  came  from  the  Isle  of  Man  and  the  Hebrides. 
On  Good  Friday,  April  23d,  1014,  the  hostile 
armies  met'on  the  plains  of  Clontarf,  each  resolved 
on  victory  or  death.  The  place  has  thence  been 
called  the  Marathon  of  Ireland.  Both  armies 
were  in  three  divisions.  The  Danes  had  a  thou- 
sand men  in  complete  armor,  and  nine  thousand 
Leinster  troops,  with  their  auxiliaries.  A  portion 
of  Brien's  followers  were  absent.  The  king  of 
Meath,  with  a  thousand  soldiers,  came  obedient 
to  Brien's  call  j  but  had  a  private  understanding 
with  the  king  of  Leinster,  that  he  and  his  troops 
would  desert  Brien  in  the  hour  of  battle.  The 
conflict  was  tremendous — the  carnage  fearful.  It 
began  at  sunrise,  and  till  four  in  the  afternoon 
the  issue  remained  doubtful.  The  Irish  battle- 
axe,  wielded  with  one  hand,  cleft  in  twain  the 
armed  Dane  at  a  single  stroke ;  but  prodigies  of 
valor  were  performed  by  all  the  combatants,  and 
on  both  sides  the  victors  of  one  moment  fell  vic- 
tims the  next.  According  to  some  accounts> 
Brien's  forces  gained  the  day :  according  to  others, 
the  Danes  at  first  gave  way,  but  rallied,  and  at 
last  prevailed.  Brien,  it  is  said,  when  he  had 
harangued  his  forces  in  the  early  morning,  and 
the  signal  for  battle  was  given,  was  not  allowed 
by  his  followers  to  head  them  in  the  strife,  on 


28  DUBLIN  PREVIOUS  TO  ELEVENTH  CENTURY. 

account  of  his  great  age,  (eighty-three  years,)  but 
retired  to  his  tent,  where  he  was  attacked,  at  the 
close  of  the  engagement,  by  a  party  of  Danes,  and 
slain.  On  his  side  fell,  also,  his  son,  a  long  cata- 
logue of  princely  and  noble  leaders,  together  with 
from  seven  to  eleven  thousand  men.  On  the 
other  side  fell  the  king  of  Leinster,  almost  all  his 
princes  and  chiefs,  and  three  thousand  men : 
while  the  Danes  lost  their  principal  officers  and 
fourteen  thousand  men,  including  the  thousand 
in  coats  of  mail,  who,  it  is  said,  were  all  cut  to 
pieces.  After  the  battle,  Sitricus,  with  the  Irish 
Danes,  returned  to  Dublin,  and  those  from  for- 
eign parts  went  on  board  their  vessels,  and  set 
sail  homewards.  Some  report  that  Brien's  body 
and  his  son's  were  interred  at  Kilmainham,  "  a 
village  about  a  mile  from  Dublin,  near  an  old 
stone  cross  f  but  it  is  believed  by  others  that  his 
corpse  was  conveyed  to  Swords,  and  then  removed, 
pursuant  to  his  own  directions,  and  buried  in 
Armagh. 

Brien  Boroomh  is  renowned  for  his  superiority 
in  statesmanship  and  in  -music,  equally  as  in  war. 
What  is  said  to  have  been  his  harp  is  preserved 
in  the  museum  of  the  Dublin  University;  but  its 
identity  is  apocryphal,  and  were  it  proved  that 
the  instrument  was  Brien' s,  a  cjeep  sigh  would 
escape  one  on  looking  at  the  relic,  that,  unlike 
the  harp  of  the  son  of  Jesse,  it  was  seldom  or 
never  tuned  to  allay  an  evil  spirit,  or  to  celebrate 
the  glorious  grace  of  the  Messiah's  reign. 


DUBLIN  SUBJECT  TO  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.  29 


SECTION  II. 

DUBLIN  SUBJECT  TO  THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE. 

.  We  have  mentioned  that  the  Danes  of  Dublin 
exchanged  heathenism  for  Christianity,  in  its 
Roman  form,  about  the  year  948. 

The  Black  Book  of  Christ  Church  has  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  the  origin  of  that  edifice  : — 
"  Sitricus,  king  of  Dublin,  son  of  Ableb,  earl  of 
Dublin,  gave  to  the  Blessed  Trinity,  and  to 
Donate,  first  bishop  of  Dublin,  a  place  on  which 
to  build  a  church  of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  where 
the  arches  or  vaults  were  founded,  with  the  fol- 
lowing lands,  viz.  :  Beal-duleck,  [now  Baldoyle,] 
llechen,  Portrahern,  with  their  villeins,  cows,  and 
corn  :  he  also  contributed  gold  and  silver  enough 
wherewith  to  build  the  church  and  the  whole 
court  thereof/'  The  "arches  or  vaults"  are 
thought  to  have  been  places  which  had  been  used 
for  storing  merchandise,  though  others  conjecture 
that  they  were  rather  cells  for  devotion.  Donate 
became  bishop  of  Dublin  in  1038,  and  died  in 
1074.  The  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  erected 
by  him  as  above,  afterwards  became  Christ  Church 
Cathedral.  He  also  built  the  Chapel  of  St. 
Michael,  which,  in  course  of  time,  was  changed 
into  a  parish-church. 


30  DUBLIN   SUBJECT   TO 

It  is  probable  that  the  Danes  of  Dublin  received 
their  Christianity  from  England,  by  communica- 
tion with  ecclesiastics  in  that  country.  Indications 
of  connection  with  Rome,  through  Canterbury, 
are  not  wanting  in  the  casa  of  Bishop  Donate ; 
but  that  connection  becomes  apparent  in  the  case 
of  Donate' s  successor,  Patrick.  Sir  James  Ware, 
in  his  "  Bishops  of  Ireland/'  gives  the  letter  which 
the  king  of  Dublin  sent  with  Patrick  to  Lanfranc, 
the  English  primate,  requesting  his  consecration, 
as  having  been  chosen  by  the  clergy  and  citizens 
to  be  their  bishop.  Ware  gives  also  the  formal 
vow  of  canonical  obedience  which  Patrick  made 
to  Lanfranc  and  his  successors.  Ware  furnishes 
likewise  two  letters  which  Patrick  brought  back 
with  him  from  Lanfranc — one  to  Godfrid,  king 
of  Dublin,  and  the  other  to  Tirdelvac,  king  of 
Ireland  :  both  of  them  written  in  that  compli- 
mentary, patronizing,  admonitoiy,  and  hortatory 
strain,  which  dignified  ecclesiastics  of  those  days, 
as  of  our  own,  well  knew  how  to  employ  for  their 
purposes,  in  addressing  secular  lords.  This  Tir- 
delvac is  the  same  king  to  whom,  as  Lanigan 
mentions,  Pope  Gregory  VII.,  Hildebrand,  sent 
a  letter,  "  much  in  the  style  of  several  others 
which  he  wrote  to  several  kings,  princes,  etc.,  for 
the  purpose  of  claiming  not  only  a  spiritual,  but 
likewise  a  temporal  and  political  superiority  over 
all  the  kingdoms  and  principalities  of  Europe. 
Having  insinuated  his  claim  over  Ireland,  he  con- 
cludes with  giving  directions  to  Tirdelvac,  etc., 
to  refer  to  him  whatever  affairs  the  settling  of 
which  may  require  his  assistance."    Thus  did  the 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       31 

pope's  temporal  power  over  nations  and  -their 
rulers  come  in,  as  it  were  by  stealth,  behind  his 
spiritual  power.  And  as  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Hildebrand,  so  it  is  in  those  of  Pio  Nono. 

Usher,  in  his  "Religion  of  the  Ancient  Irish," 
gives  the  following  letter  from  Henry  I.  of  Eng- 
land to  his  primate,  ordering  the  consecration  of 
a  Dublin  bishop,  in  1121:  "  Henry,  king  of 
England,  to  Ralph,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
greeting.  The  king  of  Ireland  hath  intimated 
unto  me  by  his  writ,  and  the  burgesses  of  Dublin, 
that  they  have  chosen  this  Gregory  for  their 
bishop,  and  send  him  unto  you  to  be  consecrated. 
Wherefore,  I  wish  you,  that  satisfying  their 
requests,  you  perform  his  consecration  without 
delay.  Witness — Ranulph,  our  chancellor  at 
Windsor."  Usher  writes  that  "all  the  burgesses 
of  Dublin,  likewise,  and  the  whole  assembly  of 
the  clergy,  directed  their  joint  letters  to  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  at  the  same  time  : 
wherein,  among  other  things,  they  write  thus  : 
1  Know  you  for  verity  that  the  bishops  of  Ireland 
have  great  indignation  towards  us,  and  that  bishop 
most  of  all  that  dwelleth  at  Armagh,  because  we 
will  not  obey  their  ordination,  but  will  always  be 
under  your  government/  "  Hence  it  appears 
what  an  opposition  existed  between  the  Irish  and 
Romanist  ecclesiastics  of  the  country.  The  ex- 
pression used  by  the  Dublin  burgesses  and  clergy 
is  even  stronger  than  Usher  has  rendered  it : 
"maximum  zelum  ercja  nos"-*-il  the  greatest 
indignation  towards  us."  The  "indignation" 
was  not  less  in  the  Romanists  against  the  Irish. 


32  DUBLIN   SUBJECT   TO 

There  were  essential  ecclesiastical  differences  be- 
tween the  two.  The  Irish  churches  were  self- 
governed — owning  no  subjection  to  the  pope. 
They  freely,  followed  each  its  own  mode  of  wor- 
ship :  none  of  them  used  the  Roman.  Each 
church  had  its  bishop  :  so  much  so  that  Roman 
divines  censured  Ireland  for  its  "paganism"  in 
having  as  many  bishops  as  churches.  The  Irish 
clergy  were  not  bound  to  celibacy;  for  among 
rules  given  for  their  style  of  dress,  one  is  that 
their  wives  should  have  their  heads  veiled  when 
they  walk  abroad.  The  Irish  churches  were 
charged  by  Romanists  with  not  observing  due 
order  in  ordaining  bishops :  in  England,  indeed, 
and  on  the  Continent,  the  ministry  of  Irish- 
ordained  clergy  was  often  disallowed.  The  Roman 
laws  with  regard  to  matrimony,  the  use  of  chrism 
in  baptism,  and  the  observance  of  Easter,  were 
not  recognized  by  the  Irish  Christians.  These 
differences  gave  rise  to  strong  contentions  when 
the  parties  came  in  contact  elsewhere;  and  no 
doubt  the  bishops  of  Ireland  looked  upon  the 
bishop  of  Dublin  placing  himself  in  the  position 
of  a  suffragan  to  Canterbury,  instead  of  being  in 
fellowship  with  themselves,  as  the  inhabitants  of 
a  besieged  city  would  on  a  person  who  sought  to 
open  its  gates  to  the  foe. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Dublin  bishop  did  not 
extend  beyond  the  city.  Limerick  and  Water- 
ford  were  each  of  them  a  bishop's  see;  and  being, 
like  Dublin,  Danish  settlements,  their  prelates 
were  of  the  Roman  order,  and  suffragans  of  Can- 
terbury.    Gregory,  whose  application  for  conse- 


THE  ENGLISH  TAPAL  RULE.       83 

cration  wo  have  mentioned,  lived  to  see  the 
long-cherished  wishes  of  the  pope  and  his  English 
primate  consummated,  in  all  the  Irish  churches 
being  placed  as  one  under  the  sway  of  Rome. 

Early  in  the  twelfth  century,  one  Gillebert, 
who,  as  Lanigan  thinks,  had  been  ordained  among 
the  Irish,  was  invited  by  the  people  of  Limerick 
to  become  their  bishop.  This  changed  his  eccle- 
siastical relation,  and  he  became  intimate  with 
Anselm,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He  took 
a  journey  to  the  continent,  and  was  enamored 
with  the  Roman  worship,  as  there  celebrated.  It 
occurred  to  him  how  much  more  orderly  and 
respectable  the  Irish  clergy  and  ritual  would  be, 
were  they  brought  into  conformity  with  Rome. 
The  pope  eventually  made  him  his  legate  for  Ire- 
land, and  he  wrote  more  than  one  treatise  in 
furtherance  of  his  favorite  purpose.  "  It  is  prob- 
able," writes  Lanigan,  "that  Gillebert  was  encour- 
aged in  his  proceedings  by  Anselm,  although  it 
can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  Anselm  supplied 
him  with  his  bad  arguments. "  The  same  author 
adds,  "Gillebert  did  not  succeed,  at  least  to  any 
considerable  degree,  in  setting  aside  the  Irish 
offices."  But  the  leaven  spread.  Malachi, 
bishop  of  Armagh,  successor  to  the  one  alluded 
to  in  the  Dublin  letter  which  we  have  quoted 
above  from  Usher,  entered  into  Gillebert' s  views, 
and  went  to  Rome  to  solicit  two  "palls" — one 
for  Armagh,  and  the  other  for  Cashel — making 
them  archbishoprics.  The  pope  received  him 
graciously,  appointed  him  legate  for  Ireland  in- 
stead of  Gillebert,  who  had  become  infirm  through 
2 


34  DUBLIN    SUBJECT    TO 

age,  and  promised  that  the  palls  should  be  granted 
on  their  being  applied  for  in  due  form,  by  dele- 
gates from  a  council  of  the  clergy  and  chief  men 
of  the  country.  A  council  was  held  on  Malachi's 
return,  and  ultimately  Pope  Eugenius  sent  Cardi- 
nal Paparo  to  Ireland,  who  conferred  four  palls  : 
namely,  one  each  upon  Armagh,  Dublin,  Cashel, 
and  Tuain.  Thus  all  Ireland  was  brought  into 
direct  fellowship  with  the  pope,  and  vowed  alle- 
giance to  him  as  her  head.  Dublin  also  ceased 
to  be  ecclesiastically  subject  to  Canterbury,  and 
became  itself  an  archiepiscopal  see.  Then,  or  in 
a  few  years  afterwards,  several  bishoprics  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  city,  as  Clondalkin,  Tallaght, 
Taney,  etc.,  were  merged  in  the  see  of  Dublin. 

The  movement  commenced  by  Gillebert  had 
other  than  spiritual  results.  Within  four  years 
after  Ireland  received  the  palls,  Henry  II.,  king 
of  England,  obtained  from  Pope  Adrian  IV.,  as 
absolute  sovereign  of  Ireland  in  his  capacity  of 
vicar  of  Christ,  a  bull,  formally  assigning  over 
the  country  to  Henry  and  his  successors  on  the 
throne  of  England  as  its  lords.  The  grant* was 
made  by  the  pope  to  the  king  "for  extending  the 
borders  of  the  Church,  restraining  the  progress 
of  vice,  for  the  correction  of  manners,  the  plant- 
ing of  virtue,  and  the  increase  of  religion."  It 
empowered  Henry  to  "enter  Ireland,  and  execute 
therein  whatever  shall  pertain  to  the  honor  of 
God  and  the  welfare  of  the  land."  It  enjoined 
the  people  to  "receive  him  honorably,  and  rever- 
ence him  as  their  lord  :  the  rights  of  their  churches 
still  remaining  inviolate."     It  bound  Henry  and 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       35 

Lis  successors  to  pay  to  the  pope  one  penny  annu- 
ally for  each  house  in  the  country.  It  concluded 
by  exhorting  Henry  to  fulfil  his  mission  for  the 
good  of  Ireland,  that  he  "might  be  entitled  to 
the  fullness  of  eternal  reward  from  God,  and 
obtain  a  glorious  crown  on  earth  throughout  all 
ages."  This  bull  from  Adrian  was  variously  con- 
firmed by  his  successors  on  the  papal  throne. 

Henry  was  too  much  occupied  otherwise  to  act 
upon  this  bull  at  once.  In  the  mean  time,  pre- 
parations were  being  made  for  his  success,  and  no 
doubt  the  connection  which  had  existed  between 
Dublin  and  Canterbury  favored  his  interests  among 
the  Danes  in  the  former  city.  In  1162,  Dermod, 
king  of  Leinster,  brought  these  Danes  and  their 
king  under  his  own  power.  Five  years  afterwards, 
O'Connor,  king  of  Ireland,  made  war  on  Dermod 
and  the  Danes.  Dermod,  reduced  to  extremity, 
applied  to  the  king  of  England  for  aid  to  regain 
his  territories.  Henry  issued  warrants  to  his 
subjects,  commanding  them  to  furnish  Dermod 
with  supplies.  The  principal  person  who  espoused 
his  cause  was  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  surnamed 
aStrongbow,"  from  his  power  in  archery.  To 
engage  this  lord  in  his  interest,  the  king  of 
Leinster  promised  him  his  daughter  in  marriage, 
and  his  crown  in  reversion.  Strongbow  came 
accordingly,  and  Dermod  recovered  his  lost  pos- 
sessions, made  himself  master  of  Dublin,  and 
appointed  Miles  de  Cogan,  an  English  adventurer, 
commander  of  the  place.  Dermod  died  in  1171, 
and  Strongbow  became  king  of  Leinster,  includ- 
ing its  metropolis,  Dublin.     Henry,  hearing  of 


36  DUBLIN    SUBJECT    TO 

his  success,  became  jealous;  but  tin  earl  visited 
England,  and  appeased  Henry's  wrath  by  con- 
senting to  surrender  Dublin  to  him,  and  to  hold 
the  province  under  him  as  liege-lord. 

In  October,  1172,  Henry  himself  crossed  the 
channel  from  Milford  to  Waterford,  with  a  fleet 
of  two  hundred  and  "forty  vessels,  bringing  with 
him  many  of  his  court  and  nobility,  four  hundred 
knights  or  men-at-arms,  and  four  thousand  sol- 
diers. On  landing,  he  received  the  submission 
of  the  English  settlers  :  Strongbow  did  homage 
to  him  for  the  crown  of  Leinster ;  and,  in  his 
progress  towards  Dublin,  many  of  the  Irish  princes 
offered  him  their  allegiance.  At  Dublin,  Strong- 
bow  formally  ceded  the  city  to  him,  and  he  ap- 
pointed Hugh  de  Lacy  its  governor,  who  bore  the 
titles  of  bailiif,  seneschal,  and  guardian  or  custos  : 
under  the  Danes,  its  chief  magistrate  had  been 
called  "  3Ior  Maer,"  Great  Steward.  Henry 
then  went  southward,  and  attended  an  ecclesias- 
tical council  at  Cashel,  wherein  all  matters  affect- 
ing the  Irish  churches  were  arranged  according 
to  the  will  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  On  returning 
to  the  metropolis,  he  gave  the  laws  of  England  to 
his  Irish  subjects,  held  a  parliament,  and  estab- 
lished courts  of  Chancery,  King's  Bench,  Com- 
mon Pleas,  and  Exchequer,  on  the  model  of 
those  in  London.  Henry  spent  his  Christmas  in 
Dublin,  with  truly  royal  feasting  and  splendor. 
There  being  no  place  in  the  city  large  enough  for 
his  use,  he  "  caused  to  be  erected  a  royal  palace, 
framed  artificially  of  wattles,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  country,"   on  a  spot  outside  the 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       37 

walls,  where  Dame  lane  enters  George's  street. 
This  palace  "  was  a  long  pavilion,  like  a  cabin, 
which,  being  well-furnished  with  plate,  household 
stuff,  and  good  cheer,  made  a  better  appearance 
than  ever  had  been  before  seen  in  Ireland.  Many 
of  the  Irish  princes  nocked  thither  to  pay  their 
duty  to  the  king,  not  without  admiration  and  ap- 
plause of  his  magnificence/'  His  object  herein 
was  to  establish  his  power  in  the  country  by  at- 
taching the  chiefs  and  people  to  himself,  giving 
proofs  of  his  good  will  towards  them  in  order  to 
secure  theirs  in  return.  Before  his  departure,  at 
Easter,  he  granted  the  city  of  Dublin  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Bristol :  "  Wherefore,"  says  the  charter, 
"  I  will  and  firmly  command  that  they  do  inhabit 
it,  and  hold  it  of  me  and  of  my  heirs,  well  and 
in  peace,  freely  and  quietly,  fully,  and  amply,  and 
honorably,  with  all  liberties  and  free  customs 
which  the  men  of  Bristol  have  at  Bristol,  and 
through  my  whole  land." 

Earl  Strongbow  died  in  1177,  and  was  buried 
with  great  solemnity  in  Christ  Church  cathedral, 
where  a  monument  was  placed  to  his  memory, 
which  still  exists,  though  much  injured  and 
defaced.  The  record  of  his  death  states  that  he 
was  interred  "in  sight  of  the  cross."  Happy 
had  it  been  if  all  who  undertook  the  cure  of 
souls,  in  those  and  other  times,  had  been  as  con- 
cerned that  men  should  know  the  doctrine  of  the 
cross  for  their  salvation  while  living,  as  the  eccle- 
siastics who  arranged  the  obsequies  of  Strongbow 
were  to  lay  his  corpse  within  view  of  the  crucifix, 
which  the  spirit  of  Antichrist  has  substituted  as 


38  DUBLIN    SUBJECT   TO 

a  refuge  for  the  soul  in  the  place  of  a  living  faith 
in  Christ ! 

During  the  time  that  the  English  power  was 
being  established  in  Ireland,  the  archbishopric 
of  Dublin  was  held  by  the  celebrated  Lawrence 
O'Toble.  At  first  he  opposed  Henry's  projects, 
but  afterwards  acquiesced  in  them.  We  read  of 
him,  that  although  he  studiously  avoided  all  popu- 
lar applause,  yet  his  charity  to  the  poor,  and 
hospitality  to  the  rich,  could  not  be  concealed. 
He  caused  every  day,  sometimes  sixty,  sometimes 
forty,  and  at  least  thirty  poor  men  to  be  fed  in 
his  presence,  besides  many  whom  he  otherwise 
relieved.  He  entertained  the  rich  splendidly  and 
elegantly,  with  variety  of  dishes,  and  several  sorts 
of  wines,  yet  never  tasted  of  the  repast  himself, 
contented  with  coarser  fare.  In  1179,  he  attend- 
ed the  second  general  council  of  the  Lateran,  and 
while  there  obtained  a  bull  from  the  Pope  Alex- 
ander, confirming  the  dioceses  of  Grlendalough, 
Kildare,  Ferns,  Leighlin,  and  Ossory,  to  his  me- 
tropolitan see. 

When  Cardinal  Paparo  gave  palls  to  Armagh 
and  Dublin,  he  did  not  sufficiently  appoint  in 
what  relation  the  two  sees  should  stand  to  each 
other.  To  Comyn,  who  followed  0' Toole  in  that 
of  Dublin,  Pope  Honorius  III.  granted  that  he 
should  be  primate  in  his  archdiocese,  and  that  no 
prelate  should  have  jurisdiction  over  him  therein, 
save  the  pope  or  his  legates.  A  controversy  of 
some  centuries'  duration  arose  between  Dublin 
and  Armagh  on  this  subject.  The  sign  of  pri 
lnatial  rank  and  prerogative  consisted  in  the  cross 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       39 

of  the  prelate  being  carried  upright  before  him. 
Popes,  councils,  parliaments,  were  variously  ap- 
pealed to,  and  gave  judgment  variously.  On  one 
occasion,  the  archbishop  of  Armagh  appeared  at 
Howth  with  his  cross  erect,  which  some  belong- 
ing to  fhe  Dublin  party  observing,  they  beat  it 
down  and  drove  him  out  of  Leinster.  At  another 
time  the  archbishop  of  Armagh  came  to  a  parlia- 
ment in  Dublin,  under  the  king's  warrant  that  he 
should  have  no  molestation ;  but  the  archbishop 
of  Dublin  would  not  allow  him  to  appear,  because 
he  insisted  on  having  his  cross  carried  upright. 
In  1345,  Fitz-Ralph,  of  Armagh,  procured  from 
King  Edward  III.  authority  to  bear  his  cross  erect 
in  any  part  of  Ireland.  Accordingly  he  came  to 
Dublin,  and  remained  in  the  city  three  days,  ex- 
hibiting the  symbol  of  preeminence,  asserting  his 
claim,  publicly  reading  the  bulls  of  popes  in 
support  of  it,  and  denouncing  excommunication 
against  any  who  should  oppose  it.  Hewson,  the 
lord  justice,  the  prior  of  Kilmainham,  and  other 
high  officials,  interfered,  (being  induced  to  do  so, 
it  is  said,  by  a  bribe  from  the  archbishop  of  Dub- 
lin,) and  put  a  stop  to  those  proceedings.  Fitz- 
Ralph  left  the  city  in  great  anger.  On  reaching 
Drogheda  he  pronounced  the  curse  of  the  Church 
on  the  parties  who  had  dared  to  impugn  his 
dignity.  This  alarmed  and  humbled  them. 
The  Kilmainham  prior  himself,  seized  with  dan- 
gerous illness,  sent  deputies  to  confess  his  sin, 
and  implore  absolution.  He  died  before  their 
return,  and  his  remains  were  refused  Christian 
burial;    but  the  grace  desired  being  at  length 


40  DUBLIN    SUBJECT    TO 

vouchsafed,  they  were  then  allowed  a  resting- 
place  in  consecrated  ground.  The  next  archhishop 
of  Dublin  received  letters  from  Edward,  revoking 
those  given  to  Fitz-Ralph,  on  the  ground  that  the 
latter  had  been  obtained  through  misrepresenta- 
tion. Finally,  Pope  Innocent  VI.'  brought  the 
dispute  to  a  close,  by  ordaining  that  Armagh  should 
be  primate  of  all  Ireland,  and  Dublin  primate  of 
Ireland,  answering  to  the  difference,  ecclesiasti- 
caily,  between  Canterbury  and  York  in  England. 

We  must  now  retrace  our  steps,  and  notice 
matters  which,  in  order  to  avoid  breaking  the 
thread  of  our  narrative,  we  refrained  from  allud- 
ing to  before. 

The  establishment  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Mary, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Liffey,  and  the  building 
of  the  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  or  Christ 
Church,  and  that  of  St.  Michael,  in  the  heart  of 
the  city,  have  been  mentioned.  In  1095,  the 
church  of  St.  Michan  was  founded  between  Ost- 
mantown  and  Mary's  Abbey,  by  a  Dane  of  that 
name;  and  about  a  century  later,  archbishop 
Comyn  demolished  the  old  parochial  church  of 
St.  Patrick,  and»erected  and  endowed  a  cathedral 
in  its  place.  In  1146,  the  nunnery  of  St.  Mary 
de  Hoggins  was  built  not  far  from  the  eastern 
gate  of  the  city,  which  thence  took  the  name  of 
Dame's  Gate,  and  the  memorial  of  the  nunnery 
is  still  preserved  in  the  names  Dame  street  and 
Dame  lane.  Twenty  years  later,  the  great  mon- 
astery of  All-Hallows  was  erected  where  Trinity 
College  now  stands ;  and  in  the  same  year  was 
also  founded  the  priory  of  All-Hallows,  at  Hog- 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       41 

gin's-green,  now  called  Stephen's-green :  both 
the  monastery  and  the  priory  sprang  from  the 
zeal  of  Dermod,  king  of  Leinster.  About  the 
same  time,  St.  Andrew's  church  was  built  where 
the  Cattle  Market  is  at  present.  The  abbey  of 
St.  Thomas  was  erected  by  Fitz-Audelin,  butler 
to  Henry  II.,  and  its  situation  is  yet  known  as 
Thomas  court,  and  Thomas  street :  it  was,  how- 
ever, then  "  near"  Dublin.  Earl  Strongbow 
erected  the  priory  of  Knights'  Templars  at  Kil- 
mainham,  where  now  stands  the  Royal  Hospital  : 
their  grounds  extended  across  the  river,  including 
a  portion  of  the  Phoenix  Park.  In  1188,  the 
priory  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  was  built  by  Alured 
de  Palmer,  on  what  is,  in  our  day,  the  north  side 
of  Thomas  street.  And,  in  1202,  William  Mar- 
shall, earl  of  Pembroke,  established  the  priory  of 
St.  Saviour,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Four 
Courts.  In  1235,  the  abbey  of  St.  Francis  was 
erected,  and  from  it  afterwards  was  taken  the 
name  of  Francis  street.  In  1259,  the  monastery 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  founded  by  Earl  Talbot, 
where  Crow  street  theatre  stood  in  modern  time. 
The  abbey  of  Witeschan,  for  Friars  Penitent,  was 
founded  near  the  Coombe  in  1268  ;  and  ten  years 
later  the  monastery  of  Carmelites,  or  White  Friars, 
was  founded  by  Sir  Robert  Bagot,  near  the  pre- 
sent Whitefriars  street.  The  churches  of  St. 
Nicholas  Within,  St.  Werburgh's,  St.  Owen's, 
(now  Audoen's,)  and  St.  Catharine's,  are  believed 
to  have  existed  at  that  period.  So  that  the  Dub- 
lin of  the  thirteenth  century  must  have  been  well 
supplied  with  ecclesiastical  buildings.     Some  of 


42  DUBLIN   SUBJECT   TO 

these  establishments  had  immense  property,  and 
their  heads  were  lords  of  parliament,  who  had 
great  influence  in  political  affairs. 

The  "  wall  and  tower"  with  which  the  Danes 
encompassed  Dublin  for  its  defence  when  they 
first  became  masters  of  it,  were,  of  course,  built 
of  masonry,  probably,  however,  of  a  somewhat 
rude  and  frail  kind,  a  step  or  two  in  advance 
upon  the  "forts"  which  universal  tradition  as- 
cribes to  them,  and  which  are  so  frequently  met 
with  in  the  country.  In  the  year  1000,  they  re- 
paired and  added  to  the  fortifications,  which  then 
became  of  considerable  strength.  The  city  wall 
went,  it  is  believed,  from  Cork  Hill  on  the  east 
down  to  within'  some  distance  of  the  river,  then 
along,  or  rather  above,  the  present  Cook  street, 
running  up  the  hill  through  Owen's  or  Audoen's 
Arch,  and  afterwards,  a  few  yards  below  the  top 
of  the  rise  on  the  south  side,  took  its  course  east- 
ward till  it  reached  Cork  Hill.  There  were  seve- 
ral gates  :  one  on  the  east,  called  Dame's  Gate ; 
another  towards  the  west,  called  Owen's  Gate;  a 
third  on  the  north,  or  north-west,  near  the  present 
Winetavern  street,  leading  to  the  river;  and  a 
fourth  on  the  south  side.  Early  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  it  was  judged  that  the  city  required 
greater  security ;  and  on  a  representation  made 
to  that  effect  by  Meyler  Fitz-Henry,  the  lord 
justice,  or,  as  the  English  would  say,  the  lord  lieu- 
tenant, king  John  granted  him  a  commission  to 
"  erect  a  castle  there,  in  such  competent  place  as 
he  should  judge  most  expedient,  as  well  to  curb 
the  city  as  to  defend  it,  if  occasion  should  so  re- 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       43 

quire,  and  to  make  it  as  strong  as  he  could  with 
good  and  durable  walls.' '  It  was,  if  so  much  could 
be  accomplished,  to  be  a  "  palace"  as  well  as  a 
"  castle."  To  aid  the  work,  John  assigned  to 
Fitz-Henry  a  debt  of  three  hundred  marks  (£200) 
due  to  the  king  by  one  Jeffrey  Fitz-Robert.  He 
also  ordered  the  inhabitants  to  improve  the  city 
defences,  to  defray  the  cost  of  which  he  appointed 
them  an  annual  fair  to  be  held  for  eight  days,  be- 
ginning on  the  festival  of  the  "  Invention  of  the 
Holy  Cross/'  It  is  thought  that  the  "  castle"  was 
finished  by  the  archbishop  Henry  Loundres,  in 
1220.  It  was  built  on  the  site  occupied  by  its 
present  successor.  The  entrance  to  it  was  on  its 
north  side,  from  what  is  called,  in  consequence, 
"  Castle  street,"  and  was  secured  by  two  towers, 
a  portcullis,  and  a  drawbridge.  What  now  forms 
the  Lower  Castle  Yard  and  parts  adjoining,  were 
then  called  "Sheep's  Land,"  (whence  Ship 
street,)  and  a  lodgment  of  water  there  was  called 
the  "  City  Ditch."  In  1215,  the  citizens  obtained 
a  royal  license  to  build  a  bridge  over  the  Liffey 
where  they  pleased.  The  site  chosen  was  probably 
where  we  have  conjectured  the  old  Ford  to  have 
been ;  and  from  this  bridge  the  street  leading  to 
it  from  the  city  naturally  came  to  be  called 
"Bridge  street."  "High  street,"  named  from  its 
position,  was  burned  down  in  1285,  and  the  year 
following  the  greater  part  of  the  city  was  con- 
sumed. It  is  recorded  to  the  honor  of  the  in- 
habitants, that  they  first  made  a  collection  to 
repair  the  damage  done  to  Christ  Church,  "  before 
they  thought  of  reedifying  their  own  houses." 


44  DUBLIN    SUBJECT   TO 

The  reader  has  been  informed  that  Henry  II. 
gave  special  encouragement  to  his  loving  subjects 
of  Bristol  to  settle  in  Dublin.  A  gloomy  event 
followed  in  connection  with  their  having  taken 
advantage  of  his  permission.  Easter  Monday, 
ordinarily  accounted  bright,  acquired  the  name 
of  "  Black  Monday."  *l  The  occasion  of  Black 
Monday,"  writes  Ware  in  his  "Antiquities,"  anno 
1209,  "and  the  original  remembrance  thereof, 
arose  in  Dublin.  The  city  of  Dublin,  by" reason 
of  some  great  mortality,  being  waste  and  desolate, 
the  inhabitants  of  Bristol  nocked  thither  to  dwell, 
who,  after  their  country  manner  upon  holy-days, 
some  for  love  of  the  fresh  air,  some  to  avoid  idle- 
ness, some  other  for  pastime,  pleasure,  and  gaming 
sake,  nocked  out  of  the  town  towards  Cullen's 
Wood  upon  Monday  in  Easter-week.  The  Beirnes 
and  Tooles,  (the  mountain  enemies,)  like  wolves, 
lay  in  ambush  for  them,  and  upon  finding  them 
unarmed,  fell  upon  them,  and  slew  three  hundred 
men,  besides  women  and  children  which  they  led 
in  their  hands.  Although,  shortly  after,  the  town 
was  upon  the  report  thereof  soon  peopled  again 
by  Bristolians,  yet  that  dismal  day  is  yearly  re- 
membered, and  solemnly  observed  by  the  mayor, 
sheriffs,  and  citizens,  with  feast  and  banquet,  and 
pitching  of  tents  in  that  place,  in  most  brave 
sort,  daring  the  enemy  upon  his  peril  not  to  be 
so  hardy  as  ever  to  approach  near  their  feasting 
camp."  This  custom  was  continued  for  some 
centuries.  At  last,  on  Easter  Monday,  in  1578, 
"the  wind  and  rain  were  so  violent  that  neither 
bowmen  nor  shot  could  go  abroad;"   and  brave 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       45 

as  the  then  chief  magistrate  and  his  compeers 
might  be  to  face  the  human  " mountain  enemies," 
they  shrank  from  encountering  the  terrible  war 
of  elements.  Nor  did  their  valorous  successors 
in  following  years,  except  on  one  occasion,  ever 
feel  called  upon  to  resume  this  old  champion-like 
celebration  of  "  Black  Monday." 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
warm  contests  arose  between  the  spiritual  and  the 
civic  rulers  of  the  city.  So  excessive  were  the 
"  dues"  exacted  by  the  clergy  for  church  services 
and  purposes,  that  it  was  resolved  to  limit  their 
power  and  reduce  their  demands.  This  incensed 
the  archbishop  Fulk  de  Sandford.  He  excom- 
municated the  mayor  and  other  secular  officials, 
placed  the  city  under  an  interdict,  and  had  the 
inhabitants  denounced  by  the  pope's  legate  then 
in  London.  In  1268,  Sir  Robert  de  Ufford,  the 
lord  justice,  brought  about  an  adjustment. 
Among  the  terms  agreed  upon  were  the  follow- 
ing : — If  a  citizen  were  guilty  of  a  public  sin, 
he  might  commute  its  punishment  for  a  sum  of 
money :  if  he  persisted  in  it,  and  it  were  great 
and  public,  he  was  to  be  cudgelled  (fustigetui-) 
about  the  church  :  on  that  proving  insufficient 
to  reform  him,  he  was  to  be  cudgelled,  before  the 
processions  made  to  the  cathedrals  ;  and  in  case 
he  was  still  impenitent,  he  was  to  be  expelled  the 
city  or  cudgelled  through  it.  The  modern  use  of 
the  horsewhip  in  Ireland,  for  administering  Rom- 
anist pastoral  discipline,  might  refer  to  the  above 
agreement  as  its  precedent. 

Honorable  mention  is  made  of  John  le  Dacer, 


46  DUBLIN   SUBJECT   TO 

the  first  "provost"  of  Dublin,  as  having  been  a 
great  public  benefactor.  Besides  building  two 
chapels  and  granting  other  liberalities  to  the 
Church,  he  provided  a  marble  cistern  for  the  city 
conduit,  such  as  had  never  been  seen  before  :  he 
also  erected  a  new  bridge  over  the  Liffey,  and  in 
a  time  of  scarcity  sent  out  three  ships  and  brought 
over  a  supply  of  corn,  bestowing  one  cargo  on 
the  lord  justice  and  the  militia,  and  a  second  on 
the  Dominican  and  Augustin  friars,  reserving  the 
third  for  the  exercise  of  his  own  hospitality  and 
bounty.  The  last-named  generosity  probably  oc- 
curred in  1310,  for  we  are  told  that  in  that  year 
the  bakers  of  Dublin  were  drawn  on  hurdles  at 
the  tails  of  horses,  through  the  streets,  for  using 
false  weights  and  for  other  malpractices,  during 
a  famine  when  a  "  crannoch"  of  wheat  (four  Win- 
chester bushels)  sold  for  twenty  shillings,  the 
price  in  England  a  few  years  before  (1288)  hav- 
ing been  only  fourpence  per  bushel.  Another 
famine  occurred  in  1331,  when  the  distress  of 
the  citizens  was  singularly  "  relieved  by  a  pro- 
digious shoal  of  fish,  called  '  turleyhides/  being 
cast  on  shore  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dodder.  They 
were  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  long,  and  so  thick 
that  men  standing  on  each  side  one  of  them  could 
not  see  those  on  the  other.  Upwards  of  two  hun- 
dred of  them  were  killed  by  the  people/' 

Besides  famine,  pestilence  frequently  made 
havoc  in  the  cfty.  One  that  occurred  in  1348 
carried  off  "  vast  numbers" — a  writer  of  the  time 
says,  "  fourteen  thousand  ! "  A  second  came  in 
1361 ;   a  third,  yet  more  destructive,  in  1370 ; 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       47 

and  a  fourth  in  1383,  which  "destroyed  abun- 
dance of  people/7  Of  one  in  1439,  "three  thou- 
sand" persons  died;  of  another  in  1447,  "vast 
multitudes  died."  What  was  the  state  of  medical 
practice  in  Dublin  during  the  times  we  are  speak- 
ing of  cannot  be  satisfactorily  ascertained ;  but  a 
statement  in  Messrs.  Warburton,  Whitelaw,  and 
"Walsh's  History,  may  suggest  to  us  that  the  heal- 
in  cr  art  was  studied  anions  the  Irish  and  in  Dub- 
lin  at  even  an  earlier  period.  "In  passing,"  say 
the  authors,  "  through  Mitre  alley,  an  obscure 
part  of  the  old  city,  near  St.  ^Patrick's  Cathedral, 
the  eye  is  attracted  by  an  angular  sign-board  pro- 
jecting from  the  wall,  on  which  is  the  following 
inscription,  '  Domestic  medicine  prescribed  from 
Irish  manuscripts,'  and  a  couplet  of  Irish  poetry, 
which  is  literally,  '  0  Christ,  the  sick  relieve  :  to 
their  aid  I  Thee  implore/  Attracted  by  this  no- 
tice, we  visited  the  doctor,  in  the  hope  of  meet- 
ing those  Irish  manuscripts  from  which  he  derived 
his  prescriptions.  Nor  were  we  disappointed. 
We  found  an  old  man  of  a  genuine  Milesian  as- 
pect, possessed  of  seventy-three  very  old  and 
valuable  volumes  of  vellum,  bound  in  modern 
covers.  They  contained  several  thousand  recipes 
in  Latin  and  Irish,  written  in  a  very  beautiful 
but  very  old  Irish  character.  The  title-pages  were 
wanting,  but  they  were  supposed  to  be  a  collection 
of  native  and  other  recipes  made  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  from  that  period  traditionally  de- 
scending from  family  to  family." 

Dublin  had  no  school  of  learning  after  she  be- 
came Roman,  previous  to  the  fourteenth  century. 


48  DUBLIN    SUBJECT    TO 

In  1313,  Archbishop  Leek  obtained  from  Pope 
Clement  V.  a  bull  for  founding  "the  university 
of  scholars  at  Dublin,"  and  in  seven  years  more 
his  successor,  Bieknor,  procured  another  bull 
from  Pope  John  XXII. ,  renewing  and  confirming 
the  former.  Bieknor  applied  himself  with  much 
spirit  to  perfect  the  design.  The  rules  of  this 
college  are  given  by  Ware.  It  had  power  to  con- 
fer degrees,  and  at  its  opening  several  persons 
received  that  of  doctor  in  divinity,  and  Bodiart, 
dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  was  made  doctor  in  canon 
law  and  chancellor  of  the  university.  It  was 
held  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  King  Edward  III. 
appointed  for  the  university  a  professor  of  di- 
vinity, enlarged  the  original  endownent,  and  by 
special  writ  granted  his  protection  and  safe  con- 
duct to  the  students  while  going  and  returning. 
It  had,  however,  only  a  feeble  and  hardly- 
sustained  existence.  A  vigorous  attempt  was 
made  to  revive  it  in  1496,  when  Archbishop 
Fitz-Simons,  at  a  council  held  in  Christ  Church, 
"  assigned  certain  stipends  to  the  lecturers  in  the 
university  at  Dublin,  payable  yearly  by  himself 
and  his  suffragans."  But  we  hear  nothing  of  it 
afterwards. 

In  Bicknor's  day,  indolence  and  mendicancy 
seem  to  have  been  rampant  in  Dublin,  and  he 
laudably  sought  to  promote  industry  as  well  as 
learning  among  the  people.  There  was  formerly 
"  extant  in  the  registry  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey  an 
account  of  a  remarkable  sermon  preached  by  him 
in  Christ  Church,  .against  sloth  and  idleness; 
wherein  he  bitterly  complained  of  the  mischiefs 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       49 

arising  from  the  strangers  and  beggars  who  infest- 
ed the  city  and  suburbs  of  Dublin;  and  so  warm 
was  he  in  his  discourse,  that  he  cursed  every  one 
that  would  not  exercise  some  trade  or  calling 
every  day,  more  or  less.  His  sermon  had  such 
an  influence  that  the  then  mayor  of  Dublin  ex- 
ercised his  authority  on  the  occasion,  and  would 
not  suffer  any  person  within  his  liberties  but  such 
as  spun  or  knitted  as  they  walked  the  streets. 
Even  the  begging  friars  were  not  excused."  The 
evils  thus  rebuked  and  corrected  came  to  the 
metropolis  from  the  provinces,  where  we  have 
reason  to  believe  they  prevailed  a  century  and  a 
half  later.  King  Henry  VII.  inquired  of  Fitz- 
Simon,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  when  the  latter 
waited  on  him  at  court,  why  his  Irish  subjects  so 
often  rebelled  and  made  no  improvement  under 
the  English  rule,  notwithstanding  the  advantages 
which  the  country  afforded.  Fitz-Simon  referred 
the  king  to  an  explanation  he  had  sent  to  his 
majesty  in  a  letter  some  time  before,  ascrib- 
ing the  poverty  and  discontent  of  the  Irish 
to  their  "  idleness."  Let  us  rejoice  that,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  facts  of  the  case  then,  a 
disposition  towards  industry  and  self-reliance  is 
now  growing  up  rapidly  among  the  people,  and 
that  they  are,  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  coming 
to  regard  it  as  a  maxim  of  common  sense  and  an 
element  of  social  prosperity,  not  less  than  an 
ordinance  of  God's  word  and  a  principle  of  his 
providence,  that  "  If  any  will  not  work,  neither 
shall  he  eat." 

Edward  Bruce,  brother  to  the  celebrated  Ro- 


50  DUBLIN    SUBJECT   TO 

bert,  king  of  Scotland,  invaded  the  north  of  Ire- 
land about  the  year  1815,  marched  thence  towards 
Dublin,  and,  encamping  at  Castleknock,  placed 
the  city  in  imminent  danger.  The  citizens,  to 
protect  themselves,  burned  some  of  the  suburbs 
on  the  west,  and,  besides  other  additions  to  their 
defences,  they  built  a  new  wall  on  the  north  side 
of  the  town,  along  what  is  now  Merchant's 
Quay,  about  four  hundred  feet  nearer  the  river 
than  the  old  line.  Bruce  burned  St.  Mary's 
Abbey  and  plundered  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  but 
observing  that  the  city  was  well  prepared  to  stand 
a  siege,  he  withdrew  towards  Naas.  Less  than  a 
century  afterwards,  the  citizens  returned  the  visit 
of  the  Scots ;  for,  in  June,  1405,  they  fitted  out 
a  fleet  and  "  invaded  Scotland  at  St.  Ninian's," 
where  their  forces  "  behaved  themselves  valiantly 
and  did  much  mischief."  They  subsequently 
sailed  down  the  channel  and  committed  some  de- 
predations on  the  coast  of  Wales,  bringing  back 
with  them  the  shrine  of  St.  Cubie,  which  trophy 
they  deposited  among  the  relics  in  Christ  Church. 
For  the  great  services  thus  rendered  by  the  citi- 
zens in  creating  division  among  his  enemies  the 
Scots  and  Welsh,  King  Henry  IV.  granted  that 
the  mayor  of  Dublin  should  thenceforth  have  a 
gilt  sword  borne  before  him,  for  the  honor  of 
the  king  and  his  heirs,  as  was  customary  with  the 
mayor  of  London. 

Feuds  and  disaffections  prevailing  in  Ireland, 
to  the  weakening,  if  not  peril,  of  the  English 
power  there,  King  Richard  II.  had  funds  for  visit- 
ing that  country  placed  at  his  disposal  by  his 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       51 

clergy  and  parliament.  At  Michaelmas,  1894, 
he  landed  at  Waterford  with  four  thousand  men- 
at-arms  and  thirty  thousand  archers,  the  duke  of 
Gloucester,  ^he  earls  of  Nottingham  and  Rutland, 
and  other  of  his  nobility,  accompanying  him.  To 
give  gorgeousness  to  his  state,  he  brought  with 
him  his  crown  jewels.  Not  fewer  than  seventy- 
five  Irish  chiefs,  each  bearing  the  title  of  "  king," 
waited  upon  him  in  Dublin  and  humbly  tendered 
their  submissions.  They  were  perfectly  charmed 
with  his  royal  pomp  and  hospitality,  and  perhaps 
were  yet  more  pleasurably  excited  by  the  con- 
descending notices  to  which  so  great  a  potentate 
admitted  them,  for  Richard  and  his  courtiers  con- 
versed with  them,  through  Castile,  one  of  his  at- 
tendants, and  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  both  of  whom 
understood  the  Irish  language.  The  four  prin- 
cipal princes  were  treated  with  marked  favor 
above  the  rest.  They  were  informed  that  his 
majesty  was  disposed  to  confer  upon  them  the 
order  of  knighthood.  But,  in  their  simplicity, 
they  did  not  at  first  understand  the  value  of  this 
grace,  and  they  expressed  some  surprise  that 
knighthood  should  be  considered  any  addition  to 
the  rank  they  already  held.  "  Every  Irish  king," 
they  said,  "  makes  his  son  a  i  knight'  at  seven 
years  old,  or,  in  case  of  his  death,  the  next  kins- 
man. We  assemble/'  they  continued,  "  in  a 
plain  :  the  candidates  run  with  slender  lances 
against  a  shield  fastened  on  a  stake  :  he  who 
breaks  the  greatest  number  is  distinguished  by 
particular  honors  attached  to  his  new  dignity." 
Richard  and  his  great  men  acknowledged  such 


52  DUBLIN   SUBJECT   TO     . 

proofs  of  early  prowess  to  be  highly  praiseworthy ; 
but  it  was  explained  that  all  the  states  of  Europe 
adopted  a  more  solemn  form  in  bestowing  knightly 
honor.  The  ceremonial  was  described  in  detail, 
and  the  four  Irish  princes,  being  now  able  to  ap- 
preciate the  boon,  accepted  it  with  due  thanks  at 
Richard's  hand,  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  March 
25th,  1395,  after  which  these  royal  personages, 
thus  exalted  above  their  former  selves,  appeared 
in  robes  of  state,  and  were  seated  at  the  king's 
table.  Richard  having  spent  nine  months  in 
Ireland,  was  hurried  home  by  information  from 
the  archbishop  of  York  and  the  bishop  of  London, 
that  in  England  religion  and  the  Church  were 
in  much  danger  through  the  spread  of  Lollard- 
ism.  The  prelates  told  him  that  the  reformers 
had  gone  so  far  as  to  make  appeals  to  the 
parliament,  and  that  that  body  had  received 
them  with  a  degree  of  attention  that  greatly 
alarmed  the  clergy,  so  that  the  king's  own  piety 
and  authority  alone  could  save  the  faith  from 
utter  ruin. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  spread  of  Wycliffe's 
doctrines  in  England,  few  traces  exist  of  their 
having  found  their  way  into  Dublin,  which  is  the 
more  remarkable  from  the  constant  communica- 
tion which  was  kept  up  between  that  country  and 
the  Irish  metropolis.  But  there  is  evidence  that 
about  the  time  of  Wycliffe's  birth  (1324)  opin- 
ions the  reverse  of  what  were  deemed  orthodox 
existed  in  the  city.  In  the  year  1327,  "Adam 
Duffe  0' Toole  was  convicted  of  blasphemy  in 
Dublin,  namely,  for  denying  the  incarnation  of 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       5o 

Christ,  the  Trinity  in  unity;  for  affirming  that 
the  blessed  Virgin  was  an  harlot  j  that  there  was 
no  resurrection ;  that  the  Scriptures  were  a  mere 
fable,  and  that  the  apostolical  see  was  an  impos- 
ture and  usurpation  ;  and  the  next  year,  pursuant 
to  his  sentence,  was  burned  on  Hoggin  Green, 
near  Dublin."  It  is  not  unlikely  that  this  man 
held  Waldensian  principles )  if  so,  persons  ac- 
quainted with  the  representations  made  of  those 
tenets  by  Romanist  writers,  well  know  what  weight 
is  to  be  attached  to  the  charge  of  denying  the  In- 
carnation, the  Trinity,  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures. 

Shortly  before  this  trial  and  execution  of 
O'Toole,  namely,  in  1324,  Lady  Alice  Kettle, 
William  Outlaw,  her  son,  and  two  other  persons, 
are  said  to  have  been  charged  with  "  witchcraft 
and  enchantments,"  in  the  spiritual  court  of  Os- 
sory;  but  another  authority,  judged  by  Ware  to 
be  more  trustworthy,  records  that  her  ladyship 
suffered  death  for  heresy,  and  that  she  was  the 
first  that  was  ever  known  to  suffer  for  that  crime 
in  Ireland.  The  chief  magistrate  of  Kilkenny 
favored  the  delinquents.  His  bishop,  Ledred,  ac- 
cused him  of  heresy,  excommunicated  him,  and  had 
him  committed  to  the  castle  in  Dublin.  The  prior 
of  Kilmainham,  however,  then  lord  justice,  treated 
him  kindly.  The  bishop,  enraged,  went  to  Dublin, 
and  there  charged  "  heresy"  upon  the  lord  justice. 
A  parliament  was  summoned,  who  appointed  a 
committee  of  inquiry.  "  They  examined  the  wit- 
nesses apart,  and  every  one  of  them  made  oath 
that  the  justice  was  orthodox,  a  zealous  champion 


54  DUBLIN   SUBJECT   TO 

of  the  faith,  and  ready  to  defend  it  with  his  life. 
Upon  this  report  of  the  committee  he  was  solemnly 
acquitted,  and  prepared  a  sumptuous  banquet  for 
all  his  defenders."  A  year  or  two  subsequently, 
Ledred  was  himself  accused  of  heresy  by  his 
metropolitan,  Bicknor,  and  appealed  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  pope,  who  exempted  him  from  Bick- 
nor's  jurisdiction.  We  have  no  means  of  knowing 
certainly  what  the  "  heresy"  was  which  parties 
thus  charged  upon  each  other.  It  may  have  in- 
volved no  very  serious  departure  from  the  faith 
received  and  enforced  by  the  Boorish  Church; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  have  been  a  near 
approach  to  evangelical  truth.  At  all  events, 
after  Bicknor's  death,  Pope  Clement  VI.  sent  a 
commission  to  the  new  archbishop  "  to  make  in- 
quisition against  all  such  heretics  as  had  fled  from 
the  prosecution  of  Bichard  Ledred,  bishop  of 
Ossory,  into  the  diocese  of  Dublin,  and  had  been 
protected  by  Alexander  Bicknor,  and  to  bring 
them  to  due  punishment  according  to  the  canons." 
Bale,  to  whom  we  shall  refer  hereafter,  in  his 
book  entitled  "  The  Great  Process  against  Lord 
Cobham,"  having  noticed  the  act  of  the  English 
parliament,  which  declared  Lollardism  to  be  both 
treason  and  heresy,  and  ordained  that  a  convicted 
Lollard  should  be  first  hung  in  chains  for  his 
treason  and  then  burned  for  his  heresy,  says  that 
"  many  were  taken  in  divers  quarters  and  suffered 
most  cruel  deaths.  And  many  fled  out  of  the 
land  into  Germany,  Bohemia,  France,  Spain,  Por- 
tugal, and  into  the  Weld  [  Wold,  open  country] 
of  Scotland,  Wales,  and  Ireland,  working  there 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       55 

many  marvels  against  their  false  kingdom  too  long 
to  write. "  Hence  it  appears  that  some  Lollards 
came  to  Ireland ;  but  had  they  been  in  consider- 
able numbers,  or  made  much  stir  in  favor  of  their 
principles,  more  information  would  have  been  pre- 
served respecting  them  than  has  been  handed 
down  to  our  time. 

In  the  year  1489,  "  niusquets"  were  brought  to 
Dublin  from  Germany,  and  six  of  them,  as  a 
great  rarity,  were  presented  to  Gerald,  Earl  of 
Kildare,  then  lord  deputy,  which  he  put  into 
the  hands  of  his  guards,  as  they  stood  sentinels 
before  his  house  in  Thomas  court.  They  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  firs£  firearms  even  seen  in 
Ireland. 

The  impostor  Simnel,  who  had  been  trained  by 
an  Oxford  priest  to  personate  the  deceased  Earl 
of  Warwick,  and  claimed  to  be  the  rightful  heir 
to  the  English  throne,  came  to  Dublin  in  1486, 
and  was  received  by  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  then 
lord  justice,  and  other  chief  officials,  with  all 
respect  and  submission,  they  being  warm  partisans 
of  the  house  of  York.  He  was  crowned  in  Christ 
Church,  under  the  style  of  Edward  VI.  The 
crown  used  on  the  occasion  was  taken  from  the 
image  of  the  Virgin  in  the  nunnery  of  St.  Mary, 
already  mentioned,  between  the  city  gate  and 
Hoggin's  green,  afterwards  "College"  green.  But 
the  year  following,  the  cause  of  Simnel  having 
become  desperate,  the  ma}Tor,  Jenicho  Marks, 
humbly  besought  mercy  for  himself  and  the  citi- 
zens from  King  Henry  VII.,  pleading  in  apology 
for  their  misdeeds  the  example  that  had  been  set 


56  DUBLIN    SUBJECT   TO 

tliem  by  the  king's  representative,  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  and  most  of  the  clergy  in  the  country 
except  the  Primate  of  Armagh.  In  June,  1488, 
Sir  Richard  Edgecumbe  came  with  a  royal  com- 
mission to  receive  new  oaths  of  fidelity  from  the 
lord  deputy,  with  the  nobility,  clergy,  and  people 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  revolt,  and  to  grant 
them  a  full  pardon.  It  may  be  observed,  as  indi- 
cating the  state  of  education  in  the  city  at  this 
period,  that  several  of  the  parties  who  subscribed 
the  application  to  the  king  for  forgiveness,  did  so 
by  affixing  their  mark  to  it,  being  unable  to  write. 
Dublin,  under  Roman  ecclesiastical  rule,  had 
its  pageant  performances  on  sacred  days.  The 
reader  will  form  an  idea  of  these  exhibitions  by 
the  following  outline  of  the  provision  for  one  in 
the  procession  on  Corpus  Christi  festival :  the 
account  will  also  show  the  existence  and  names 
of  the  several  city  guilds.  The  glovers  were  to 
represent  Adam  and  Eve,  with  an  angel  bearing 
a  sword  before  them.  The  curriers,  Cain  and 
Abel,  with  an  altar  and  their  offering.  The  ma- 
riners and  vintners,  Noah  and  the  persons  in  his 
ark,  apparelled  in  the  habit  of  carpenters  and 
salmon-takers.  The  weavers  personated  Abraham 
and  Isaac,  with  their  offering  and  altar.  The 
smiths,  Pharaoh  and  his  host.  The  skinners,  the 
camel,  with  the  children  of  Israel.  The  gold- 
smiths were  to  find  the  King  of  Cullen — (who 
was  he  ?)  The  hoopers,  or  coopers,  were  to  find 
the  shepherds,  with  an  angel  singing  Gloria  in 
excehis  Deo.  Corpus  Christi  guild  was  to  find 
Christ  in  his  passion,  with  the  Maries  and  angels. 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       57 

The  tailors  were  to  find  Pilate  with  his  fellowship, 
and  his  wife  clothed  accordingly.  The  barbers, 
Annas  and  Caiaphas.  The  fishers,  the  apostles. 
The  merchants,  the  prophets.  And  the  butchers, 
the  tormentors.  The  reader  may  comment  on 
the  list  as  he  will.  Doubtless  each  corporation 
felt  a  gratification  in  doing  its  part  well,  though 
the  degree  of  complacency  must  have  varied  ac- 
cording to  the  honor  and  excellency  of  what  it 
had  to  personify. 

What  was  reckoned  an  act  of  gross  sacrilege 
was  perpetrated  in  Dublin,  early  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  The  partisans  of  the  lord  deputy 
Kildare,  and  those  of  the  Earl  of  Orniond,  met 
in  St.  Patrick's  cathedral  professedly  for  an  ami- 
cable conference  with  a  view  to  adjust  differences 
which  had  led  to  much  asperity  between  them. 
It  was  a  stratagem,  however,  on  the  part  of  Or- 
niond and  his  people  to  get  Kildare  and  his  fol- 
lowers into  their  power.  Words  soon  gave  place 
to  blows.  Some  of  the  arrows  of  Kildare' s  men 
stuck  in  the  images  of  the  sacred  edifice.  The 
daring  profanation  was  reported  to  the  pope,  who 
in  his  clemency  absolved  the  citizens,  but,  "in 
detestation  of  the  deed,  and  to  keep  up  the  me- 
mory of  it  for  ever,"  ordained  that  "  the  mayor 
of  Dublin  should  walk  barefoot  through  the  city 
in  open  procession  before  the  sacrament  on  Corpus 
Christi  day  yearly" — a  penance  duly  submitted  to 
till  the  Reformation,  and  the  performance  of 
which  must  have  given  much  interest  to  the  fes- 
tival. 

The  year  1535  saw  Dublin  in  one  of  the  great- 


£>8  '       DUBLIN   SUBJECT   TO 

est  of  its  many  perils.  Fitzgerald,  son  of  the  lord 
deputy,  was  left  in  charge  of  it  while  his  father 
went  to  England.  A  rumor  was  spread  that  the 
latter  had  been  seized  and  beheaded  in  London. 
The  son,  on  the  11th  of  June,  came  with  a  party 
of  a  hundred  and  forty  horse,  and  made  a  formal 
and  entire  resignation  of  his  authority  to  the 
chancellor,  and  then  forthwith  raised  the  standard 
of  rebellion.  He  demanded  liberty  to  pass  through 
the  city  in  order  to  besiege  the  castle,  giving  the 
magistrates  some  time  to  consider  their  reply.  In 
this  interval,  a  large  supply  of  provisions  and 
means  of  defence  were  conveyed  into  the  castle. 
Alderman  John  Fitz-Shnons,  on  his  own  account, 
furnished  its  commander  with  twenty-two  tuns  of 
wine,  twenty-four  of  beer,  two  hundred  dried  ling, 
sixteen  hogsheads  of  powdered  beef,  twenty  cham- 
bers for  mines,  and  an  iron  chain  for  the  draw- 
bridge, forged  in  his  own  house  to  avoid  suspicion. 
The  citizens  then,  with  the  commander's  con- 
currence, agreed  to  Fitzgerald's  demand,  on  the 
condition  that  no  injury  should  be  done  to  them- 
selves. They  had  at  first  sent  a  messenger  to  the 
king  for  help,  and  he  brought  an  encouraging 
answer.  The  rebels  killed  Archbishop  Allen  when 
he  attempted  to  escape ;  and  they  broke  faith  with 
the  citizens,  by  threatening  to  place  some  of  the 
children  of  the  latter  on  their  works,  to  deter  the 
garrison  in  the  castle  from  firing  upon  the  be- 
siegers. The  citizens  at  last  closed  their  gates, 
imprisoning  the  soldiers  who  were  within  the 
walls,  and  cutting  them  off  from  their  comrades 
outside.     Fitzgerald  was  absent  from  his  camp. 


THE  ENGLISH  PAPAL  RULE.       59 

On  hearing  of  what  had  occurred,  he  hastened 
back,  attempted  to  take  the  city,  but  was  repulsed 
and  obliged  to  retire.  The  fidelity  of  the  citizens 
was  not  unrewarded.  The  king,  Henry  VIII., 
by  letters  patent,  dated  February  4,  1538,  after 
reciting  the  "  siege,  famine,  miseries,  wounds,  and 
loss  of  blood, "  they  had  suffered,  granted  them 
"all  the  building  and  estates  belonging  to  the 
dissolved  monastery  of  All-hallows,  near  Dublin, 
lying  in  the  counties  of  Dublin,  Meath,  Louth, 
Kildare,  Tipperary,  Kilkenuy,  and  elsewhere  in 
Ireland,  at  the  rent  of  four  pounds,  four  shillings, 
and  three  farthings/7  And,  further,  to  repair  the 
weakened  and  ruined  great  forts  and  towers  of 
the  city  and  its  walls,  he  confirmed  to  them,  for 
ever,  a  formal  grant  of  nearly  forty  pounds  a  year, 
with  an  annual  gift  of  twenty  pounds  from  him- 
self. 

The  hill  on  which  Dublin  stood  was  not  yet 
entirely  cleared  of  the  "  hazel-wood' '  which  at 
first  gave  it  the  name  of  "Ath-Cliath,"  for  the 
annals  record  that  during  the  quarrels  between 
the  two  factions  of  Orniond  and  Kildare,  the 
former  "came  down  with  a  great  host  of  Irish- 
men, and  encamped  in  Thomas  Court  Wood/' 
What  is  now  Dame  street  was  then  an  "  avenue" 
leading  from  the  city  gate  to  Hogges,  or  Hoggin' s, 
Green. 


60  DUBLIN   DURING 


SECTION   III. 

DUBLIN    DURING   THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION. 

The  city  had  been  for  five  hundred  years  under 
the  spiritual  yoke  of  Romanism,  and,  during 
nearly  four  centuries  out  of  the  five,  the  secular 
power  of  England  had,  for  upholding  its  own  in- 
terests, been  joined  with  that  spiritual  dominion 
in  both  countries.  In  profound  yet  contented 
servitude  to  the  pope,  Ireland  remained  till  Henry 
VIII.  had  numbered  more  than  thirty  years  on 
the  English  throne.  Continental  Europe  had 
been  convulsed  throughout :  the  monk  of  Wit- 
temberg  had  made  the  Vatican  quake  to  its  foun- 
dations :  Great  Britain  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
tumult  attending  a  revolution  in  her  faith ;  but 
Ireland  slumbered  on,  as  if  drugged  to  stolidity  or 
death  under  the  pontiff's  sway.  Having  little 
intercourse  with  other  nations,  she  was  so  engross- 
ed with  the  local  interests  and  strifes  of  her  peo- 
ple, that  she  neither  cared  for  nor  knew  much  of 
what  was  passing  elsewhere.  Many  of  the  Irish 
clergy,  same  even  of  prelatic  rank,  were  ignorant, 
indoJent,  and  immoral ;  and  occasionally  their  ex- 
actions were  painfully  oppressive.  But  the  clergy 
were  considered  the  almoners  of  grace,  and  the 
lords  of  conscience,  and  it  was  believed  that  in 


IIIE   BRITISH    REFORMATION.  61 

proportion  to  the  amount  of  "carnal  tilings "  de- 
manded by  the  Church,  and  to  the  cheerfulness 
with  which  those  demands  were  acquiesced  in, 
would  be  the  degree  of  heavenly  benediction 
vouchsafed  from  the  "  holy  mother"  to  her  much- 
loved  and  much-loving  children.  Priest-ridden 
as  the  latter  were,  the  want  of  self-respect  and 
self-reliance,  the  want  of  manly  independent 
thought  and  action,  the  habit  of  hanging  upon 
others  and  succumbing  to  them,  which  Popery 
generates,  tended  to  keep  the  population  at  ease 
and  even  satisfied  beneath,  the  sacerdotal  yoke. 
Clerical  influence  then,  as  now,  beguiled  Irish 
patriotism  to  believe  that  English  rule  was  the  in- 
cubus to  be  got  rid  of  in  order  to  uplift  the  people, 
and  that  the  papal  supremacy  must  be  clung  to 
as  the  only  protecting  and  sustaining  agency  that 
could  deliver  from  what  was  denounced  as  a 
usurped  and  crushing  tyranny.  Little  did  its  vic- 
tims think  that  the  papal  supremacy  was  itself 
the  chief  tyranny. 

When,  therefore,  Ireland  first  heard  of  the  "Re- 
formation/' the  intelligence  stirred  no  kindling 
sympathy  in  her  heart.  Previous  movements  had 
more  or  less  prepared  other  countries  to  welcome  it. 
England  had  had  its  Wycliffe:  Bohemia,  its  Husa 
and  Jerome  :  Switzerland  had  its  Zuingle  :  Ger- 
many, its  Luther  :  France,  its  Calvin  :  Scotland, 
its  Knox.  But  in  Ireland  no  herald  had  come  to 
prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  :  no  native  champion 
had  arisen  there  to  assert  His  claims  upon  her 
homage  :  no  Irishman  ventured  to  raise  a  banner 
for  his  brethren  to  rally  round  and  escape  from 


62  DUBLIN    DURING 

their  Babylonian  thrall :  no  Irishman  lifted  his 
voice  to  warn  his  brethren  of  the  "  mystery  of 
iniquity"  that  bewitched  them,  and  to  proclaim 
to  them  the  "mystery  of  godliness"  which  brings 
freedom  and  health,  and  life  for  evermore.  What 
was  at  first,  and  for  not  a  short  time  afterwards, 
done  to  make  Ireland  Protestant,,  was  for  the  most 
part  effected  by  the  English  government  obliging 
the  clergy  and  laity  to  adopt  the  English  ritual, 
as  an  obedience  due  to  the  king's  will,  and  to  be 
enforced  by  the  king's  authority.  The  project 
was  dealt  with  as  .a  matter  of  state-regimen 
more  than  of  conscience  towards  God.  The  aim 
was  rather  to  secure  conformity  of  "  bodily  ex- 
ercise" with  outward  regulations,  than  to  renew 
the  spirit  to  the  faith  of  Christ ;  and  this  conform- 
ity was  sought  by  the  application  of  pains  and 
penalties,  more  than  by  the  intelligent  and  kind 
persuasions  of  Christianity.  Happily,  there  has 
been  since  learned  "  a  more  excellent  way." 

When  Henry  received  the  crown,  he  was  a 
zealous  Romanist.  Some  dozen  years  after- 
wards came  forth  his  book  on  the  Seven  Sacra- 
ments, written  against  Luther,  and  which  obtained 
for  him  and  his  successors,  from  the  pope,  the 
title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith."  In  course  of 
time,  he  found  it  convenient  to  repudiate  the  pa- 
pacy of  Rome,  and  appropriate  its  prerogatives  to 
himself  over  his  own  realm.  But  Romanism  was 
still  to  be  the  religion  of  his  country;  the  prin- 
cipal change  being  that  he  who  was  its  sovereign 
was  to  be  its  pope  also.  Cardinal  Wolsey,  when 
legate,  had  seized  forty  monasteries,  and  applied 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  63 

their  properties  to  found  a  new  college  at  Oxford. 
Henry  judged  that  he  could  now  do  at  his  plea- 
sure what  AYolsey  had  done  ;  and  he  disposed  of 
the  religious  houses  and  estates  in  his  kingdom 
accordiug  to  his  royal  will  and  pleasure.  That 
he  still  designed  no  change  of  creed,  except  in 
the  matter  of  supremacy,  is  evident  from  the  act 
passed  by  his  parliament,  and  called  the  "  Bloody 
Bill,"  which,  by  its  first  provision,  consigned  any 
party  who  denied  the  "  real  presence"  to  death 
by  burning,  and  allowed  no  mitigation  of  the  sen- 
tence even  if  the  heresy  were  solemnly  abjured. 
After  Henry's  marriage  with  Catherine  Parr,  in 
1543,  he  became  less  hostile  to  the  reformers. 
But  it  was  not  till  the  accession  of  his  son,  Ed- 
ward VI.,  that  the  royalty  of  England  became 
truly  engaged  for  Protestantism.  Next  arose 
Mary,  and,  with  her,  Romanism  returned  to  the 
high  place  from  which  it  had  been  expelled.  She 
was  followed  by  Elizabeth,  when  a  "  uniformity" 
which  excluded  Romanism  and  often  tried  to  an- 
nihilate English  Puritanism,  was  affirmed,  and 
was  continued  under  her  successor,  James  I. 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  contents  of  the 
foregoing  paragraphs  are  foreign  to  our  subject — 
that  they  concern  England,  Ireland,  and  the 
Reformation,  rather  than  Dublin.  ■  But  the  well- 
informed  reader  is  aware  how  much  proceedings 
about  religion  bore  on  the  affairs  of  the  city,  and 
how  closely  the  history  of  Ireland's  metropolis  is 
interwoven  with  that  of  Ireland  itself,  and  of 
England  alsto. 

Greorge  Brown,  provincial  of  the  Augustinians 


Gl  DUBLIN    DURING 

in  England,  was  consecrated  archbishop  of  Dub- 
lin, in  March,  1535,  in  the  place  of  Allen,  whose 
murder  has  been  already  noticed.  He  was  ap- 
pointed a  commissioner  for  abolishing  the  pope's 
supremacy,  and  establishing  that  of  the  king  in 
Ireland.  The  task,  however,  proved  greater  than 
he  was  equal  to,  in  consequence  of  the  devoted- 
ness  of  the  Irish  clergy  to  the  Roman  pontiff. 
He  advised  the  lord  Cromwell  that  a  parliament 
should  be  convened  to  carry  the  measure,  which 
was  done  in  the  year  following,  when  Brown  pro- 
posed the  act  for  establishing  the  king's  suprem- 
acy, "  in  a  short  speech,"  setting  forth  that  kings 
were  head  over  all  in  their  dominions,  that  even 
Christ  paid  tribute  to  Ciesar,  and  that  kings  and 
emperors,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church,  gov- 
erned bishops  and  even  popes  themselves.  Lord 
Brabazon  seconded  Brown's  proposal,  and  it  was 
adopted.  The  pope  was  quickly  apprised  of  this, 
and  sent  over  a  bull  of  excommunication  against 
all  who  should  acknowledge  Henry's  claim,  and 
great  numbers  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  English  as 
well  as  Irish,  set  themselves  against  it.  However, 
through  many  difficulties,  Henry's  government 
kept  its  stand  in  Dublin  and  in  the  country. 

On  the  loth  of  June,  1541,  another  parliament 
met  in  Dublin,  and  ordained  that  henceforth  Ire- 
land should  be  made  a  "  kingdom"  instead  of  a 
"lordship,"  as  hitherto,  and  that  the  king  of 
England  should  be  also  "king"  of  Ireland.  The 
contents  of  this  statute  were  announced  the  next 
Sunday  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  in  presence 
of  the  lord  deputy  and  many  peers  in  their  robes 


THE   BRITISH   KEFORMATION.  65 

of  state,  with  other  principal  persons  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  secular.  On  that  occasion,  royal  grace 
was  exercised  in  pardoning  and  liberating  prison- 
ers. There  were  also  great  feastings,  tourna- 
ments, and  running  at  the  ring  on  horseback, 
with  grand  civic  processions  in  which  the  mayor 
bore  the  mace  before  the  lord  deputy;  and  the 
comedy  of  the  "  Nine  Worthies"  was  acted  for 
the  entertainment  of  the  citizens.  The  same  par- 
liament which  gave  to  Henry  the  style  and  title 
of  "  king  of  Ireland/'  also  confirmed  to  him  the 
full  and  free  disposal  of  all  its  abbeys  and  other 
religious  houses,  a  power  which  he  had  already 
exercised  upon  some  of  those  in  and  near  Dublin. 

It  is  said  that  Brown,  before  he  left  England 
to  be  made  archbishop  of  Dublin,  "  advised  the 
people  to  make  their  applications  to  Christ  alone, 
for  which  doctrine  he  was  much  taken  notice  of." 
Probably  his  bias  against  the  Roman  opinions  of 
mediation,  inclined  him  to  favor  the  king's"  su- 
premacy. After  coming  to  Ireland,  he  became 
yet  more  favorable  to  the  reformed  views.  In 
1538,  he  obtained  a  warrant  for  removing  images 
and  relics  from  his  cathedrals,  a  measure  which 
greatly  provoked  the  Romanist  party.  But, 
though  sincere,  Brown  had  not  the  bold,  God- 
trusting  zeal,  required  in  a  reformer.  He  was 
fettered  and  enfeebled  by  his  belief  in  the  king's 
supremacy  over  the  creed  and  the  Church,  and 
could  not  make  any  movement  in  favor  of  religion 
without  sanction  from  the  court. 

Not  until  the  fifth  year  of  Edward  VI.  were 
decided  steps  taken  towards  introducing  the  re- 


66  DUBLIN    DURING 

formed  faith  into  Ireland.  Under  date  of  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1551,  a  royal  order  came  to  the  lord 
deputy  that  the  Church  Liturgy,  as  it  had  been 
translated  into  English,  should  be  used  in  the 
Irish  churches.  The  order  was  laid  before  an  as- 
sembly of  the  prelates  and  other  leading  clergy, 
called  together  in  Dublin.  Some  of  them  were 
exasperated  at  the  king's  interference  in  Church 
affairs.  Dowdal,  the  Armagh  primate,  threatened 
the  deputy  with  the  clergy's  curse;  and  after 
warm  contention,  he  and  many  others  withdrew. 
Brown  gave,  as  his  reason  for  accepting  the  order, 
the  duty  of  obeying  his  king.  A  proclamation 
was  issued  enjoining  the  use  of  the  new  liturgy, 
but  it  intimated  no  change  in  this  prayer-book  of 
King  Edward  from  the  old  mass-book,  except  the 
circumstance  of  its  being  a  translation  into  Eng- 
lish. Public  worship  was  first  celebrated  accord- 
ing to  the  new  rubric,  on  Easter  Sunday,  in 
Christ  Church  Cathedral,  before  the  lord  deputy 
and  other  authorities.  Few  churches  in  the  coun- 
try adopted  it.  A  new  lord  deputy  endeavored  to 
conciliate  Dowdal,  but  in  vain  :  so  the  primacy 
was  withdrawn  from  Armagh  and  transferred  to 
Dublin.  Brown  became  primate  of  all  Ireland  \ 
and  Dowdal  left  the  country,  but  did  not  formally 
vacate  his  archbishopric. 

King  Edward's  prayer-book  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  instance  of  printing  in  Ireland. 
Its  title  ran — ■"  The  Boke  of  common  prayer  and 
administracion  of  Sacramentes  and  other  Rites 
and  Ceremonies  of  the  Churche  after  the  use  of 
the  Churche  of  England.     Dubliniae,  in  ofiicina 


THE    BRITISH   REFORMATION.  67 

Humfredi  Poweli,  cum  privilegio  ad  imprinien- 
duui  solum.     Anno  Domini  M.D.LI." 

The  government  found  it  almost  impossible  to 
supply  ecclesiastical  vacancies  with  men  of  Pro- 
testant convictions.  Two  divines,  however,  came 
to  Dublin  in  1552,  namely,  Hugh  G-oodacre,  ap- 
pointed to  Armagh,  which  Dowdal  had  abandoned 
though  not  resigned,  and  John  Bale,  appointed 
to  Ossory.  They  were  consecrated  by  Brown  and 
other  prelates,  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  on  the 
2d  of  February.  Brown  and  his  assistants  in  the 
ceremony  were  for  using  the  old  Roman  form  on 
the  occasion,  lest,  by  adopting  the  English  one, 
they  should  offend  prejudice  and  create  disturb- 
ance. Goodacre  was  willing  to  meet  their  wishes, 
but  Bale,  who  was  made  of  sterner  stuff,  would 
not  consent.  The  point  was  yielded  to  him.  He 
also  required  that  the  "  altar"  should  be  covered 
with  a  cloth  as  a  "table,"  and  that  "  nonprinted" 
bread,  not  the  "  wafer,"  should  be  had  for  the 
communion ;  and  to  his  wishes  in  this  respect 
Brown  and  his  co-prelates  had  to  give  way.  To 
their  great  surprise,  no  tumult  ensued.  Grood- 
acre  died  in  Dublin  about  three  months  after- 
wards :  his  death  was  ascribed  to  poison.  Bale 
went  to  his  charge,  and  of  his  ministry  wrote  : — ■ 
"  My  first  proceedings  were  these  :  I  earnestly 
exhorted  the  people  to  repentance  for  sin,  and 
required  them  to  give  credit  to  the  gospel  of  sal- 
vation j  to  acknowledge  and  believe  that  there 
was  but  one  God,  and  him  alone,  without  any 
other,  sincerely  to  worship ;  to  confess  one  Christ 


G8  DUBLIN    DURING 

for  an  only  Saviour  and  Bedeemer,  and  to  trust 
in  none  other  man's  prayers,  merits,  nor  yet  de- 
servings,  but  in  his  alone  for  salvation.  I  treated 
at  large  both  of  the  heavenly  and  the  political 
state  of  the  Christian  Church;  and  helpers  I  found 
none  among  my  prebendaries  and  clergy,  but  ad- 
versaries a  great  number.  I  preached  the  gospel 
of  the  knowledge  and  right  invocation  of  God. 
But  when  I  once  sought  to  destroy  the  idolatries 
and  dissolve  the  hypocrites'  yokes,  then  followed 
angers,  slanders,  and  in  the  end  slaughters  of 
men,"  His  labors  in  Ireland  were  of  short  dura- 
tion, for  on  the  death  of  Edward  and  accession 
of  Mary  he  had  to  leave  the  kingdom ;  but  he 
came  back  to  England  in  Elizabeth's  reign  and 
joined  the  Puritans.  Bale  had  studied  at  Cam- 
bridge, was  a  man  of  great  learning,  and  the 
author  of  numerous  works  on  theology  and  other 
subjects.  He  has  been  censured  for  his  vekeni- 
ence ;  and,  in  straightforward  earnestness  of 
purpose  and  endeavor,  his  habits  presented  a 
wide  contrast  to  those  of  Brown ;  but  he  was  not, 
as  his  censurers  would  have  us  to  believe,  more 
violent  than  Luther,  Knox,  and  other  leaders  in 
the  assault  on  Bomanism  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
We  may  safely  assume  that  the  relative  position 
of  Popery  and  evangelism  in  Ireland  would  be 
far  different  from  what  it  is,  if,  instead  of  indulg- 
ing in  lukewarmness,  time-serving,  and  self-seek- 
ing, the  parties  professing  the  gospel  had  always 
cherished  self-sacrificing  earnestness  like  that  of 
Bale,  without  his  faults — faults  probably  more 


THE   BRITISH  REFORMATION.  69 

characteristic  of  the  age  than  of  the  man.  Law- 
rence Huinfryd,  dean  of  Winchester  in  1550,  no 
mean  authority  in  the  case,  wrote  of  him  : — 

"  Plurima  Lutherus  patefccit ;  Platina  multa  : 
Quredani  Vergerius  ;   cuncta  Baloeus  habet ;" 

which  Harris  translates,  with  more  of  rhyme  than 
elegance,  yet  not  without  some  spirit : — 

"  Platina  hath  much  unveiled ;  but  Luther  more  ; 
Vergerius  many  things ;  but  Bale  hath  tore 
Away  the  mask  that  pope  and  Popery  wore." 

The  reader,  it  is  hoped,  requires  no  apology  for 
this  notice  of  such  a  man,  though  he  was  con- 
nected with  Dublin  only  by  two  circumstances — 
his  consecration  there,  as  before  stated,  and  his 
escape  in  a  sailor's  dress,  on  board  a  vessel  there, 
when  he  fled  from  Kilkenny  to  the  continent  in 
peril  of  his  life,  in  consequence  of  Popery  again 
coming  into  power. 

We  have  spoken  of  Archbishop  Brown  with 
somewhat  reserved  approval.  We  think  it  would 
have  been  better  for  himself,  for  the  truth,  for 
Dublin,  and  for  Ireland,  if  he  had  possessed  more 
moral  courage ;  but  we  have  intimated  no  doubt 
of  his  honest  dissent  from  Rome.  Ware  tran- 
scribes a  sermon  which  he,  Brown,  preached  in 
Christ  Church,  perhaps  on  the  day  when  the  Eng- 
lish liturgy  was  first  used.  Part  of  it  has  been 
thought  somewhat  prophetic  of  the  course  of  the 
Jesuits,  then  just  coming  on  the  stage  of  Europe. 
His  text  was  Psalm  cxix.  18,  "  Open  thou  mine 
eyes,  that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of 
thy  law."     After  applauding  the  translation  of 


70  DUBLIN   DURING 

the  Scriptures  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  eulogizing 
the  government,  and  exposing  the  folly  and  sin 
of  worshipping  and  trusting  images,  he  proceeds  : 
11  But  there  are  a  new  fraternity  of  late  sprung 
up,  who  call  themselves  Jesuits,  which  will  de- 
ceive many,  who  are  much  after  the  Scribes'  and 
Pharisees'  manner  amongst  the  Jews.  They  shall 
strive  to  abolish  the  truth,  and  shall  come  very 
near  to  do  it ;  for  these  sorts  will  turn  themselves 
into  several  forms  :  with  the  Heathen,  an  Hea- 
thenist ;  with  Atheists,  an  Atheist ;  with  the 
Jews,  a  Jew;  and  with  the  Reformers,  a  Re- 
formade :  purposely  to  know  your  intentions, 
your  minds,  your  hearts,  your  inclinations,  and 
thereby  bring  you  at  last  to  be  like  'the  fool  that 
said  in  his  heart  there  was  no  God.  These  shall 
spread  over  the  whole  world,  shall  be  admitted  to 
the  councils  of  princes,  and  they  never  the  wiser ; 
charming  of  them,  yea,  making  your  princes  re- 
veal their  hearts  and  the  secrets  therein  unto 
them,  and  yet  they  not  perceive  it,  which  will 
happen  from  falling  from  the  law  of  Grod,  by  neg- 
lect of  fulfilling  of  the  law  of  Grod,  and  by  wink- 
ing at  their  sins ;  yet,  in  the  end,  Grod,  to  justify 
his  law,  shall  suddenly  cut  off  this  society,  even 
by  the  hands  of  those  who  have  most  succored 
them  and  made  use  of  them,  so  that  at  the  end 
they  shall  become  odious  to  all  nations :  they 
shall  be  worse  than  Jews,  having  no  resting-place 
upon  the  earth,  and  then  shall  a  Jew  have  more 
favor  than  a  Jesuit/'  Brown  could  hardly  have 
described  the  history  of  the  Jesuits,  during  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  more  cor- 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  W 

rectly,  had  lie  foreseen  what  then  occurred  in 
their  expulsion  from  every  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
try in  Europe,  and  the  suppression  of  the  order 
by  a  bull  from  Pope  G-anganelli  in  1773.  But 
Brown's  vision  of  the  future  seems  not  to  have 
embraced  the  subsequent  revival  and  reestablish- 
nient  of  the  brotherhood  within  the  last  fifty  years, 
and  the  ascendency  it  is  now  seeking  to  acquire 
over  the  affairs  of  these  countries,  of  Europe  at. 
large,  and  of  America.  ^ 

Mary,  on  coming  to  the  throne  in  1553,  gave 
no  token  of  resorting  to  those  measure  for  exter- 
minating Protestantism  which  not  long  afterwards 
struck  terror  into  England's  heart.  The  lords 
justices  and  privy  council,  in  Dublin,  issued  a 
proclamation,  making  it  lawful  to  attend  the  mass, 
but  leaving  all  persons  free  to  act  as  they  chose 
in  the  matter.  Afterwards,  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  and  the  pope's  supremacy  were  again  es- 
tablished. Dowdal  was  recalled  to  Armagh  and 
reinvested  with  the  primacy.  Brown  of  Dublin 
and  four  other  prelates  were  removed  from  their 
sees,  because  they  were  married  men.  Bale,  of 
Ossory,  as  before  named,  had  to  flee  for  his  life. 
All  the  other  bishops,  however,  were  continued 
in  their  sees.  Indeed,  the  whole  affair  passed  off 
most  quietly,  so  little  hold  had  Protestant  princi- 
ples taken  of  the  population.  Persecution  was 
scarcely  heard  of  in  Ireland,  because  there  was 
little  to  persecute.  This  induced  many  of  the 
English  Protestants  to  cross  over  and  reside  where 
they  would  be  free  from  the  deadly  violence  to 
which   they  were   exposed   in   their  own  land. 


7*2  DUBLIN   DURING 

"Among  others,  John  Hervey,  Abel  Ellis,  John 
Edmonds,  and  Henry  Hough,  all  Christian  men, 
transported  their  effects  to  Dublin,  and  became 
citizens  thereof;  one  Thomas  Jones,  a  Welsh- 
man, and  a  Protestant  priest,  privately  officiating 
among  thein."  This  was  in  1554.  But  in  a 
year  or  two  the  queen's  government  began  to  cast 
their  eye  upon  the  refugees,  and  an  act  "  for  re- 
viving three  [English]  statutes,  made  for  the 
punishment  of  heresies/'  was  passed  in  a  Dublin 
parliament.  Perhaps  it  was  deemed  enough  for 
the  present  to  have  these  statutes  held  up  in  ter- 
rorem,  for  nothing  appears  to  have  been  done 
towards  putting  them  in  force. 

However,  it  would  have  been  anomalous  if 
Protestants  had  continued  to  enjoy  life  and  liberty 
where  popery  was  in  strength.  Within  two 
months  of  the  queen's  death,  namely,  in  October, 
1558,  the  storm  which  had  broken  with  desolat- 
ing fury  upon  all  that  was  dear  to  truth  and  god- 
liness in  England,  began  to  move  westward,  and 
threatened  to  make  havoc  of  the  same  in  Ireland. 
Barely  has  the  historian  had  to  record  a  more 
singular  deliverance  than  in  the  case  now  referred 
to.  It  is;  perhaps,  generally  known,  but  must 
not  be  omitted  here.  The  reader  shall  have  the 
account  as  given  by  Sir  James  Ware's  son  : 

"  Queen  Mary,  towards  the  end  of  her  reign, 
this  year  granted  a  commission  for  to  call  the 
Protestants  in  question  here  in  Ireland,  as  well 
as  they  had  done  in  England;  and  to  execute  the 
same  with  greater  force,  she  nominated  Dr.  Cole, 
sometime  dean  of  St.  Paul's  in  London,  one  of 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  73 

the  commissioners ;  and  so  sent  the  commission 
by  this  said  doctor.  And  in  his  journey  coming 
to  Chester,  the  mayor  of  that  city,  hearing  that 
her  majesty  was  sending  commissioners  into  Ire- 
land, and  he  being  a  churchman,  waited  on  the  doc- 
tor, who  in  his  discourse  with  the  mayor  took  out 
of  his  cloak-bag  a  leather  box,  and  said  unto  him, 
1  Here  is  a  commission  that  shall  lash  the  heretics 
of  Ireland,'  calling  the  Protestants  by  that  title. 
The  good  woman  of  the  house  being  well  affected 
to  the  Protestants  and  to  that  religion,  and  also 
having  a  brother,  named  John  Edmonds,  a  Pro- 
testant and  a  citizen  in  Dublin,  was  much  trou- 
bled at  the  Doctor's  words.  But  she,  waiting  her 
convenient  time,  whilst  the  mayor  took  his  leave 
of  the  doctor,  and  the  doctor  was  complimenting 
him  clown  the  stairs,  opened  the  box  and  took  the 
commission  out,  and  placed  in  lieu  thereof  a  pack 
of  cards,  with  the  knave  of  clubs  faced  upper- 
most, and  wrapt  them  up.  The  doctor  coming 
up  to  his  chamber,  suspecting  nothing  of  what 
had  been  done,  put  up  his  box  as  formerly.  The 
next  day,  going  to  the  water-side,  wind  and  wea- 
ther serving  him,  he  sailed  towards  Ireland,  and 
landed  on  the  17th  of  October,  1558,  at  Dublin. 
Then  coming  to  the  castle,  the  Lord  Fitz- Walter 
being  at  this  time  lord  deputy,  sent  for  the  doc- 
tor to  come  before  him  and  the  privy  council,  who 
coming  in,  after  he  had  made  a  speech  relating 
upon  what  account  he  came  on,  presented  the  box 
to  the  lord  deputy,  who  causing  it  to  be  opened 
that  the  secretary  might  read  the  commission, 
there  appeared  nothing  save  a  pack  of  cards,  with 


74  DUBLIN   DURING 

the  knave  of  clubs  uppermost;  which  not  only 
startled  the  lord  deputy  and  the  council,  but  the 
doctor,  who  assured  them  he  had  a  commission, 
but  knew  not  how  it  was  gone.  Then  the  lord 
deputy  made  answer,  *  Let  us  have  another  com- 
mission, and  we  will  shuffle  the  cards  in  the  mean- 
while/ The  doctor,  being  troubled  in  his  mind, 
went  away,  and  returned  into  England,  and  com- 
ing to  the  court  obtained  another  commission : 
but  staying'  for  a  wind  at  the  water-side,  news 
came  to  him  that  the  queen  was  dead.  Thus," 
adds  Ware,  "  G-od  preserved  the  Protestants  in 
Ireland  from  the  persecution  intended."  As 
authorities  for  this  extraordinary  narrative,  the 
writer  of  it  mentions  the  Earl  of  Cork's  "  Me- 
morials," Sir  James  Ware,  and  the  two  Primates 
Usher.  He  adds,  that  when  Lord  Fitz-Walter 
went  to  England  after  Elizabeth's  accession,  the 
deputy  related  the  circumstances  to  her  majesty, 
which  so  delighted  the  queen  that  she  "  sent  for 
the  good  woman  named  Elizabeth  Edmonds,  by 
her  husband  Mattershed,  and  gave  her  a  pension 
of  forty  pounds  per  annum  durante  vita,  for  sav- 
ing her  Protestant  subjects  of  Ireland." 

The  new  queen,  Elizabeth,  was  proclaimed  in 
Christ  Church,  Dublin,  before  the  end  of  Novem- 
ber, with  the  usual  ceremonies.  On  the  27th  of 
August  following,  Thomas,  Earl  of  Sussex,  landed 
at  Dalkey,  which  seems  to  have  been  then  a  port 
of  more  importance  than  at  present.  He  lay  that 
night  at  Sir  John  Travers's  house  at  Monktown. 
On  the  morrow,  being  Sunday,  he  came  to  Dub- 
lin, and  was  met  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen  on 


THE   BRITISH    REFORMATION.  75 

Stephen's  green,  when  he,  the  lord  deputy,  took 
the  mayor  by  the  hand,  asked  the  aldermen  how 
they  did,  and  said,  "  You  be  all  happy,  my  mas- 
ters, in  a  gracious  queen. "  That  night  he  lay  at 
one  Mr.  Peter  Forth' s  house,  because  the  house 
at  Kilmainham,  the  usual  residence  of  the  de- 
puty, once  belongiDg  to  the  Knights  Templars, 
had  been  damaged  by  a  great  tempest  the  year 
before,  and  was  not  yet  repaired.  The  next 
morning  he  rode  to  St.  Patrick's,  and  then  to  St. 
Sepulchre's,  where  he  kept  his  court.  On  the 
30th  he  attended  worship  in  Christ  Church, 
where  Sir  Nicholas  Darly  sang  the  litany  in  Eng- 
lish, after  which  the  lord  deputy  took  his  oath  of 
office.  These  ceremonies  being  ended,  his  lord- 
ship rode  back  to  St.  Sepulchre's,  inviting  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  to  dine  with  him.  Soon 
after,  the  use  of  the  mass-service  was  forbidden 
by  proclamation.  Orders  came  to  the  dean  of 
Christ  Church  to  remove  from  the  cathedral  all 
popish  relics  and  images,  and  to  paint  and  whiten 
it  anew,  putting  sentences  of  Scripture  upon  the 
walls  instead  of  pictures.  This  work  was  begun 
May  23d,  1559.  In  the  same  year  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York  sent  over  two  large  Bibles  in  Eng- 
lish, one  for  each  of  the  cathedrals,  Christ  Church 
and  St.  Patrick's.  They  were  put  up  in  the 
choir,  and  crowds  of  people  nocked  to  see  and 
read  for  themselves  the  sacred  Scriptures  of  truth. 
So  great  was  the  demand  thus  created  for  Bibles, 
that  John  Dale,  a  Dublin  bookseller,  imported 
and  sold    for  the  London  publishers  not  fewer 


76  DUBLIN   DURING 

than  seven  thousand  copies  in  the  two  years  end- 
ing- with  1566. 

The  lord  deputy  haying  visited  England  to 
consult  the  court  how  he  should  manage  re- 
specting the  affairs  of  the  Church,  returned  in 
1560,.  with  instructions  to  call  an  assembly  of  the 
clergy,  and  to  proceed  with  the  establishment  of 
the  Protestant  religion  in  Ireland.  The  convocation 
met.  Some  of  the  ecclesiastics  were  much  anger- 
ed, and  one  of  them,  William  Walsh,  bishop  of 
Meath,  having  preached  against  the  prayer-book, 
was,  by  the  queen's  commands,  deposed  and  put 
in  prison.  By  an  act  of  parliament,  the  eccle- 
siastical jurisdiction  was  restored  to  the  crown, 
and  a  new  oath  of  supremacy  appointed  :  the  use 
of  the  common  prayer  was  enforced,  and  all  sub- 
jects were  obliged  to  attend  the  service  of  the 
Church.  English  not  being  then  the  spoken  lan- 
guage of  the  country,  except  in  Dublin  and  a  few 
other  principal  towns,  it  was  ordered  that  where 
the  people  did  not  understand  English,  the  ser- 
vice should  be  performed  in  Latin  I  The  reason 
of  this  arrangement  is  not  explained  :  possibly  it 
may  have  been  from  a  wish  to  meet  the  prejudices 
of  Romanists,  or  from  a  fear  of  countenancing 
the  Irish  language,  of  which  the  English  author- 
ities seem  generally  to  have  had  an  instinctive 
dread. 

Long  before  Elizabeth's  time,  great  improve- 
ments had  taken  place  in  the  house-building 
and  general  plan  of  Dublin.  The  structures  of 
wattles  plastered  with  clay  had  generally  given 


THE    BRITISH   REFORMATION.  ^77 

place  to  those  of  "  cage-work  " — a  framework  of 
timber  having  the  compartments  filled  up  with 
brick  or  with  wattles  plastered,  such  as  are  yet  to 
be  seen  in  Chester  and  some  other  old  English 
towns.  Shingles,  tiles,  and  slates,  were  taking 
the  place  of  sedge  and  straw  for  roofing  j  although 
there  were  some  thatched  roofs  in  the  city  in  the 
time  of  Charles  I.  One  of  the  "  cage"  houses 
remained  in  Cooke  street  till  about  the  middle  of 
the  last  century  :  it  was  taken  down  on  the  27th 
of  July,  1745.  "On  an  oak  beam,"  says  White- 
law,  "  carried  over  the  door  the  whole  length  of 
the  said  house,  was  the  following  inscription  cut 
in  large  capitals  and  a  fair  Roman  character,  no- 
thing damaged  by  time  in  the  space  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  years,  except  in  one  part  where 
an  upright  piece  of  timber,  being  morticed  into 
it,  had  received  the  drip,  and  was  somewhat 
rotted  : — qui  fecisti  coelum  et  terram  bene- 

DIC  DOMUM  ISTAM,  QUAM  JOHANNES  LUTREL  ET 

JOHANA NEI  CONSTRUI    FECERTJNT,  A.  D.   1580, 

ET  ANNO  REGNI  REGINiE  ELIZABETHS  22.    '  TllOU 

who  madest  the  heavens  and  the  earth  bless  this 
house,  which  John  Lutrel  and  Joan — caused  to 
be  built  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1580,  and  in  the 
twenty-second  year  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth/ "  Many  other  houses  of  the  same  sort 
were  to  be  seen  in  the  city  and  suburbs  when  this 
author  wrote,  namely,  in  1766;  but  the  one  he 
considered  to  be  the  oldest  and  most  remarkable 
was  in  Skinner's  row,  near  the  Tholsel :  it  had 
been  called  "  the  Cairbre,"  and  was  described  as 


78  DUBLIN   DURING 

having  been  the   residence  of  the   lord-deputy 
Kildare,  in  1532. 

The  "  Tholsel,"  from  toll-stall,  or  place  where 
tolls  were  paid,  above  named  as  existing  in  1766, 
was  the  successor  of  a  previous  one  in  Eliza- 
beth's time,  which  also  stood  where  now  Nicholas 
street  joins  Christ  Church  Place,  lately  Skinner 
How  :  it  occupied  the  angle  formed  by  the  junction 
of  the  two,  having  its  front  towards  the  cathedral. 
"Newgate,"  the  common  jail,  was  a  building  of 
a  square  form,  having  a  tower  at  each  corner  :  it 
was  one  of  the  city  gates,  and  stood  in  what  was 
then  called  Newgate  street,  now  Corn  market, 
between  New  Row  and  High  street.  The  Dublin 
"Bridewell"  of  Elizabeth's  day  was  about  half- 
way on  the  road  from  the  city  to  where  the  col- 
lege was  built.  The  "Hospital"  was  on  the 
river-side,  near  where  Fleet  street  now  is.  The 
"  Inns"  of  that  time  were  followed  in  their  site 
first  by  an  "  Infirmary,"  and  then  by  the  present 
"  Four  Courts." 

The  "  Castle"  was  to  have  been  built  as  a 
"  palace"  in  addition  to  a  fortress,  but  means  had  ' 
not  been  forthcoming  for  the  purpose,  and  the 
representatives  of  the  sovereign  held  their  court 
at  Thomas  Court,  or  at  St.  Sepulchre's,  the  re- 
sidence of  the  archbishop,  or  in  the  house  of  the 
Knights  Templars  at  Kilmainham.  Elizabeth,  in 
the  third  year  of  her  reign,  1560,  commanded 
the  lord  lieutenant  and  council  "  to  repair  and 
enlarge  the  castle  of  Dublin,  for  the  reception  of 
the  chief  governors."  The  particulars  of  what  was 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  79 

done  in  obedience  to  this  order  are  not  given  us, 
but  we  are  told  that  in  1567  the  lord-deputy,  Sir 
Heury  Sidney,  "  repaired  and  beautified' '  it. 
Whatever  the  improvements  were,  they  seem  to 
have  been  neither  adequate  nor  very  durable,  for 
within  some  seventy  years  afterwards  it  was  in  a 
ruinous  condition,  and  Archbishop  Laud  wrote  to 
the  lord-deputy  Wentworth  to  "  vindicate  to  God's 
service"  St.  Andrew's  church,  which  had  been 
used  by  his  lordship  as  a  stable. 

The  "  walls"  of  the  city,  in  Elizabeth's  reign, 
were  in  extent  nearly  as  described  in  our  last 
section,  excepting  that  they  now  enclosed  the  space 
which  then  lay  between  them  and  the  river.  The' 
principal  streets  within  them  were  Castle  street, 
Skinner  How,  High  street,  Newgate  street,  St. 
Nicholas  street,  St.  Werburgh's  street,  Back  lane, 
Cooke  street,  Bridge  street,  Winetavern  street,  and 
Fish-shamble  street.  Merchant's  Quay  was  the 
place  where  vessels  landed  their  cargoes,  and  mer- 
chants carried  on  their  business  in  imports  and  ex- 
ports. Wood  Quay,  also,  then  existed.  Between 
these  two  quays,  at  the  foot  of  Winetavern  street, 
stood  the  Custom  House,  called  the  "  Crane."  Be- 
yond the  walls  on  the  south  of  the  Liffey,  were  St. 
Andrew's,  St.  Michael-le-Pole's,  St.  Peter's,  St. 
Stephen's,  St.  Bride's,  and  St.  Catharine's 
churches,  and  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  ;  with  Tho- 
mas street,  New  Row,  Francis  street,  Patrick  street, 
Bride  street,  and  Sheep  street,  more  or  less  built, 
while  indistinct  rudiments  showed  themselves  of 
the  Coombe,  New  street,  Kevin  street,  George's 
lane,  and  Dame  street.     A  lodgment  of  water, 


80  DUBLIN    DURING 

called  the  City  Ditch,  ran  from  what  is  now  Ex- 
change court,  to  the  foot  of  Nicholas  street,  having 
a  bridge  over  it  at  Pole's  gate,  at  the  foot  of 
"Werburgh's  street.  The  other  gates  were  St. 
Nicholas's  at  the  foot  of  St.  Nicholas  street,  New- 
gate, Orinond  gate,  whence  we  now  have  '•'Worm- 
wood" gate  at  the  foot  of  New  Row,  Bridge  gate 
opening  from  Bridge  street  to  the  Bridge,  and 
Dame's  gate  leading  into  Dame  street.  The  last 
was  the  principal  entrance  to  the  city,  and  was 
"  armed"  with  a  portcullis.  As  part  of  the  city 
wall  at  the  river  end  of  Fish-shamble  street,  stood 
Finn's  or  rather  Fynn's  Castle,  also  called  Proute- 
fort's,  a  place  of  some  strength,  thought  to  have 
been  built  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  to  have  been  named  from  its  owner. 

Parliament  street  and  Essex  street  did  not  exist 
in  Elizabeth's  time  :  they,  with  Essex  gate,  were 
formed  about  1672,  when  the  Earl  of  Essex  was 
lord  lieutenant.  Their  place  was,  at  the  period 
we  are  describing,  occupied  by  a  creek,  or  small 
harbor  for  boats,  which  ran  up  from  the  river  to 
near  the  head  of  Dame  street.  Here  Archbishop 
Allen  embarked  when  he  fled  from  Fitzgerald  in 
1535,  but,  being  driven  on  shore  at  Clontarf,  he 
was  discovered  and  put  to  death  by  the  rebels. 
Along  where  we  have  Sycamore  alley,  Temple 
bar,  Fleet  street,  and  Poolbeg  street,  was  covered 
with  water  at  every  rise  of  the  tide.  A  village, 
called  "  Hoggins,"  occupied  part  of  the  space 
between  George's  lane  and  what  is  now  Dawson 
street,  probably  about  our  Grafton  street,  and  the 
village  u  Green"  extended  to  the  river  :  the  name 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  81 

is  thought  to  have  come  from  the  mnmciy  which 
stood  there,  "  Ogh,"  in  Irish  signifying  a  "  vir- 
gin." "  Stephen's  green"  then  existed,  so  called 
from  the  church  of  St.  Stephen,  which  stood  near 
it,  but  there  was  no  road  from  it  to  Hoggin's 
green  except  through  George's  lane.  Almost 
all  the  range  beyond  New  Row,  Thomas  street, 
Francis  street,  Patrick's  street,  Sheep  street,  and 
Dame  street,  was  considered  "  the  country." 

One  bridge  crossed  the  Liffey,  namely,  at  the 
foot  of  Bridge  street.  There  was  also  the  "  Ford" 
of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  perhaps  where  Essex  bridge 
has  been  since  built.  On  the  north  side  of  the 
river  were  the  Abbey  and  its  lands,  St.  Michan's 
church,  the  Inns,  and  Ostmantown  ;  with  Church- 
street,  Mary's  lane,  and  Pill  lane.  The  Liffey, 
more  or.  less,  flowed  over  what  is  Ormoncl  Quay, 
Upper  and  Lower,  and  the  adjoining  parts. 

"  Grood  Queen  Bess"  made  herself  highly  popu- 
lar with  the  Dublin  people,  by  the  grant  of  three 
public  clocks,  which  were  put  up,  one  at  the 
Castle,  a  second  at  the  Tholsel,  and  the  other  at 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  She  also  raised  the  value 
of  the  coin,  so  that  the  Dublin  "  shilling"  passed 
for  "  nine-pence"  in  England. 

A  writer  of  this  period  tells  us  that  "  the  hos- 
pitalitie  of  the  maior  and  sherriffes  for  the  year 
being  is  so  large  and  bountifull,  that  surelie  very 
few  such  officers  under  the  crowne  of  England 
keep  so  great  a  port,  none  I  am  sure  greater.  The 
maior,  over  the  number  of  officers  that  take  their 
dailie  repast  at  his  table,  keepeth  for  his  yeare  in 
a  manner  open  house.    And,  albeit,  in  terme  time 


$2  DUBLIN   DURING 

Lis  house  is  frequented  as  well  of  the  nobilitie  as 
of  other  potentates  of  great  calling ;  yet  his  ordi- 
narie  is  so  good,  that  a  verie  few  set  feasts  are 
provided  for  them.  They  that  spend  least  in  their 
inaioraltie,  (as  those  of  credit,  yea,  and  such  as 
hare  the  office  have  informed  me,)  make  an  ordi- 
nate account  of  five  hundred  pounds  for  their 
viand  and  diet  that  year  :  which  is  no  small  summe 
to  be  bestowed  in  housekeeping,  namelie  where 
vittels  are  so  good  cheape,  and  the  presents  of 
friends  diverse  and  sundrie."  It  will,  however, 
be  seen  that  by  the  end  of  the  queen's  reign  "vit- 
tels" had  ceased  to  be  "  so  good  cheape,"  and  that 
the  chief  magistrate's  hospitalities  must  have  de- 
clined, or  that  his  expenditure  thereon  must  have 
greatly  increased. 

We  have  now  to  record  the  establishment  of 
the  Dublin  University,  Elizabeth's  great  boon  to 
Ireland. 

It  has  been  noticed  that  an  institution  of  the 
kind  was  commenced,  and  existed  for  some  time 
languishingly,  at  an  earlier  period,  but  at  length 
died  away.  In  1568,  a  Dublin  parliament  pro- 
jected another,  to  be  supported  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions j  and  the  lord  deputy,  with  other  wealthy 
persons,  promised  liberal  assistance.  Representa- 
tions were  forwarded  to  London  in  order  to  obtain 
the  sanction  of  the  crown.  Many  delays  and 
difficulties  occurred  to  prevent  this  design  from 
being  carried  into  effect  as  quickly  as  it  deserved. 
In  1590,  it  was  renewed  with  greater  vigor.  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral  had  been  occupied  for  the 
former  university,  and  it  was  proposed  to  appro- 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  83 

priate  that  edifice  for  the  one  now  contemplated, 
but  the  archbishop,  Loftus,  would  not  give  his 
•consent,  though  zealous  for  the  undertaking. 
However,  accompanied  by  the  lord  chancellor  and 
clergy,  he  met  the  mayor,  aldermen,  and  commons, 
at  the  Tholsel,  and  after  setting  forth  the  advan- 
tages of  having  a  seat  of  learning  in  the  city, 
intimated  that  her  majesty  would  be  highly 
pleased  if  they  would  give  the  decayed  monastery 
of  All-Hallows,  which  Henry  VIII.,  her  father, 
had  made  over  to  the  city,  as  a  site  for  the  erection. 
The  mayor  and  corporation  at  once  acquiesced. 
Applications  for  aid  were  made  to  the  country, 
and  from  Cork,  G-alway,  and  other  places,  about 
£2000,  equal  to  £14;000  now,  was  received  to- 
wards the  expenses  of  building,  etc.  The  foun- 
dation-stone was  laid  by  the  mayor,  on  the  loth 
of  March,  1591.  The  queen's  charter  of  incor- 
poration bears  date  March  the  30th,  1592 ;  and 
in  January,  1593,  the  college  was  opened.  It 
was  based  on  liberal  principles,  much  more  so 
than  is  Oxford  or  even  Cambridge,  all  Protestants, 
Conformists,  or  others,  being  eligible  for  its  pro- 
vostship  and  fellowships,  as  well  as  admissible  to 
its  advantages  for  education;  but,  in  less  than 
half  a  century  from  its  beginning,  Archbishop 
Laud  greatly  modified  its  constitution.  Arch- 
bishop Loftus  was  the  first  provost,  and  the  first 
three  fellows  were  William  Daniel  and  two  Pres- 
byterians from  Scotland,  who  had  been  sent  over 
by  James  VI.  to  watch  his  interests,  and  employed 
themselves  as  schoolmasters  in  the  city.  The  first 
scholars,  or  students,  were  Abel  Walsh,  James 


84  DUBLIN   DURING 

Usher,  and  James  Lee.  To  some  of  the  parties 
connected  with  the  university  iu  its  earliest  days, 
we  must  devote  a  few  sentences. 

The  name  best  known  among  them  is  that  of 
James  Usher — a  name  that  reflects  honor  upon 
his  country  and  his  age.  He  was  born  in  Dublin 
on  January  the  8th,  1580  :  his  father  was  one  of 
the  six  clerks  in  chancery;  his  uncle,  Henry  Usher, 
was  Archbishop  of  Armagh.  The  child  Jauies 
learned  to  read  from  two  aunts  who  had  been  blind 
from  their  birth,  but  taught  him  the  Bible  from 
their  recollection  of  it  on  its  being  read  to  them  : 
he  ever  called  it  the  "  best  of  books."  He  was 
placed,  for  acquiring  the  elements  of  learning, 
under  the  care  of  Fullarton  and  Hamilton,  the 
two  Scottish  schoolmasters,  above  referred  to  as 
made  fellows  of  the  college.  James  Usher  entered 
college  when  only  thirteen  years  old  :  Hamilton 
was  his  tutor  there.  In  his  nineteenth  year,  while 
yet  a  student,  he  accepted  a  challenge  thrown  out 
by  Fitz-Symoncls,  a  Jesuit,  to  a  public  disputation 
on  the  Protestant  faith.  The  Jesuit  reckoned  on 
an  easy  triumph,  but  the  stripling  vanquished  the 
giant.  After  a  second  conference,  the  latter  de- 
clined a  third.  On  this  Usher  wrote  to  him  :  the 
Jesuit  sent  no  reply.  He  afterwards  said  of  the 
discussion,  "  There  came  to  me  once  a  youth  of 
about  eighteen  years  of  age,  of  a  ripe  wit,  when 
scarce,  as  you  would  think,  gone  through  his 
course  of  philosophy,  or  got  out  of  his  childhood, 
yet  ready  to  dispute  on  the  most  abstruse  points 
of  divinity."  The  same  Jesuit  called  Usher 
u Acatholicorum  doctissimas,> — the  "  most  learned 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  "  85 

of  the  not-Catholics."  In  1601,  he  was  ordained 
by  his  uncle,  the  primate,  and  preached  a  series 
of  controversial  sermons  in  Christ  Church  with 
great  success.  What  he  afterwards  became  is 
known  to  the  world. 

William  Daniel,  one  of  the  first  fellows  of  the 
university,  was  the  first  or  second  who  took  there 
the  degree  of  doctor  in  divinity.  He  was  conse- 
crated Archbishop  of  Tuani  in  1609.  He  was 
an  eminent  scholar,  and  translated  the  New  Tes- 
tament out  of  Greek  into  the  Irish  language; 
which  work  was  printed  in  quarto,  and  dedicated 
to  King  James  I.  It  was  reprinted  in  1681,  at 
the  expense  of  the  Honorable  Robert  Boyle. 
Daniel  also  translated  the  English  Common 
Prayer  into  Irish.  This  was  printed  in  1608, 
and  dedicated  to  the  lord  deputy,  Sir  Arthur 
Chichester. 

Archbishop  Loftus  took  the  honorary  title  of 
"provost"  to  the  college  at  its  opening,  in  order 
to  countenance  the  undertaking,  but  shortly  re- 
signed the  oifice,  and  arranged  that  Walter  Tra- 
vers,  $  Puritan,  who  had  been  joint-fellow  with 
himself  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  should 
succeed  him.  Travers  was  afternoon  preacher  at 
the  Temple  church,  London,  where  Hooker,  author 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  preached  in  the  morn- 
ing. The  two  ministers  were  strongly  at  variance 
on  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  matters  :  the  same 
pulpit,  in  one  part  of  the  day,  was  antagonist  to 
itself  in  the  other.  Hooker  took  deep  umbrage, 
and  failing  to  carry  the  mind  of  the  congregation 
with  him,  appealed  to  a  higher  authority,  Whit- 


86  DUBLIN   DURING 

gift,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who,  says 
Thomas  Fuller  in  his  Church  History,  a  silenced 
Travers  from  preaching  in  the  Temple  or  any- 
where else.  It  was  laid  to  his  charge  : — 1.  That 
he  was  no  lawful  ordained  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England.  2.  That  he  preached  here  without 
license.  3.  That  he  had  broken  the  order  made 
in  the  seventh  year  of  her  majesty's  reign,  that 
erroneous  doctrine,  if  it  came  to  be  publicly 
taught,  should  not  be  publicly  refuted,  but  that 
notice  thereof  should  be  given  to  the  ordinary,  to 
hear  and  determine  such  causes,  to  prevent  public 
disturbance."  Hearing  of  what  had  thus  occurred 
in  London,  Loftus  wrote  to  Travers,  inviting  him 
to  the  provostship  of  the  Dublin  college.  Travers 
acceded,  and  remained  in  that  office  till  ill-health 
obliged  him  to  resign  in  1601,  when  he  returned 
to  England.  Fuller  gives  him  the  highest  cha- 
racter. " Sometimes,"  he  writes,  " he  did  preach; 
rather  when  he  dared  than  when  he  would :  de- 
barred from  all  cure  of  souls  for  his  nonconform- 
ity." Usher,  who  had  studied  under  him,  held 
him  in  high  veneration,  and,  when  Travers  .was  in 
poverty  for  conscience'  sake,  offered  him  money; 
but  Travers  "  returned  a  thankful  refusal  thereof." 
He  "bequeathed  all  his  books  of  oriental  lan- 
guages, (wherein  he  was  exquisite,)  and  plate 
worth  fifty  pounds,  to  Sion  College  in  London. 
0  !  if  this  good  man  had  had  a  hand  to  his 
head,  or  rather  a  purse  to  his  hand,  what  charita- 
ble works  would  he  have  left  behind  him !  But," 
continues  Fuller,  in  concluding  a  pretty  full  ac- 
count of  him,  "in  pursuance  of  his  memory,  I 


THE   BRITISH   REFORMATION.  87 

have  entrenched  too  much  on  the  modern  times. 
Only  this  I  will  add,  perchance  the  reader  will  be 
angry  with  me  for  saying  thus  much ;  and  I  am 
almost  angry  with  myself  for  saying  no  more  of  so 
worthy  a  divine." 

The  University,  in  its  charter  of  incorporation, 
was  styled  Collegium  Sanctce  et Individual  Trini- 
tatis  Juxta  Dublin  a  Sercnissimd  Regind  Eliza- 
betkd  Fandatum.  The  "  Juxta"  is  inappropriate 
to  describe  its  position  now,  its  situation  being  in 
one  of  the  greatest  thoroughfares  of  the  city. 
Its  first  buildings  formed  a  square,  the  principal 
of  them  being  on  the  north  side.  Within  a  few 
years  of  its  commencement,  its  revenues  failed  in 
consequence  of  a  rebellion  in  the  country,  and 
applications  had  to  be  made  to  the  government 
for  funds  to  prevent  its  being  finally  closed.  The 
necessary  aid  was  granted,  and  this  university  is 
at  present  second  to  neither  Oxford  nor  Cam- 
bridge in  the  ability  and  zeal  of  its  professors,  its 
general  regulations,  or  the  conduct  of  the  resident 
students.  But  "  Trinity/'  in  its  beginning,  had 
a  very  humble  form  compared  with  the  noble 
establishment  of  our  own  day,  including  its  hand- 
some frontage,  its  magnificent  library  and  its 
chaj)el,  its  examination-hall,  its  dining-hall,  its 
printing-office,  its  squares,  its  spacious  park  for 
recreation,  its  botanic  garden  on  the  east,  and  its 
observatory  on  the  west  of  the  metropolis  it 
adorns. 

The  rebellion  which  imperilled  the  infant  col- 
lege was  only  one  of  a  succession  which  kept  the 
country  in  ferment  to  nearly  the  close  of  Eliza- 


88     DUBLIN  DURING  BRITISH  REFORMATION. 

belli' s  reign,  when  the  English  power  came  to  be 
generally  acknowledged.  Of  the  distress  occa- 
sioned by  these  wars,  some  opinion  may  be  formed 
by  the  following  account  of  the  prices  at  which 
provisions  were  sold  in  Dublin  in  the  year  1602, 
signed  by  John  Tirrel,  the  mayor.  Wheat  had 
risen  from  36s.  the  quarter  to  180s.;  barley-malt 
from  10s.  the  barrel  to  43s. ;  oatmeal  from  5s. 
the  barrel  to  22s. ;  peas  from  5s.'  the  peck  to  40s. ) 
oats  from  3s.  4cZ.  the  barrel  to  20s. ;  beef  from 
26s.  8cZ.  the  carcase  to  £8 ;  mutton  from  3s.  the 
carcase  to  26s. )  veal  from  10s.  the  carcase  to 
29s. ;  a  lamb  from  Is.  to  6s. ;  a  pork  from  8s.  to 
30s.  If  we  multiply  these  prices  by  seven,  to 
give  their  equivalents  in  our  own  money,  the 
sums  almost  exceed  belief,  and  show  that  if 
money  were  not  in  proportion  much  more  plenti- 
ful than  it  is  with  us,  the  cost  of  what  are  con- 
sidered necessaries  must  at  that  period  have 
been,  with  most  persons,  tantamount  to  a  prohi- 
bition of  them. 


DUBLIN  UNDER  JAMES  I.  AND  CHARLES  I.    89 


SECTION  IV. 

DUBLIN  UNDER  JAMES  I.  AND  CHARLES  I. 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  fre- 
quent occurrence  of  pestilence  in  Dublin.  In 
the  year  1575,  a  plague  broke  out  on  the  7th  of 
June,  and  continued  till  the  17th  of  October, 
carrying  off  at  least  three  thousand  persons.  The 
city  is  described  as  having  been  then  so  depopu- 
lated, by  deaths  or  desertions,  that  grass  grew  in 
the  streets  and  about  the  ohurch-cloors.  The 
niaj'or  and  sheriffs  held  their  court  at  Glasman- 
ogue,  and  the  lord  deputy  resided  at  Drogheda. 
In  1604,  the  same  calamity  began  in  October  and 
continued  till  September,  1605.  It  broke  out 
again  the  next  year,  and  continued  till  the  year 
following.  Yet  the  annals  record  that  in  the  year 
1610  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  and  suburbs 
amounted  to  twenty  thousand.  The  density  with 
which  the  people  were  crowded  together,  the 
want  of  sewerage,  and,  equally,  of  cleanliness 
and  ventilation,  with  the  malaria  from  the  swamps 
bordering  on  the  river  and  elsewhere  near  the 
city,  must  have  almost  compelled  disease  in  some 
of  its  worst  forms  to  hold  the  place  as  its  den 
and  throne. 

Notwithstanding  all   that  Elizabeth's  govern- 


90  DUBLIN   UNDER   JAMES   I. 

ment  had  clone  to  make  Ireland  Protestant,  little, 
yery  little,  had  been  effected.  The  poet  Spenser 
gives  an  appalling  account  of  what  he  had  ob- 
served to  be  the  state  of  both  clergy  and  laity  in 
the  country,  and  he  places  in  humiliating  contrast 
the  earnestness  of  the  Roman  priesthood  and  the 
supineness  and  selfishness  of  what  he  calls  "  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel." 

Lord  Bacon  thought  much  for  Ireland,  and  in 
1601  wrote  to  Cecil,  secretary  of  state,  urging 
"  some  course  of  advancing  religion  indeed,  where 
the  people  is  capable  thereof;  as  the  sending  over 
some  good  preachers,  especially  of  that  sort  which 
are  vehement  and  zealous  preachers,  and  not 
scholastic,  to  be  resident  in  principal  towns,  en- 
dowing them  with  some  stipend  out  of  her  ma- 
jesty's revenues,  as  her  majesty  hath  most 
religiously  and  graciously  done  in  Lancashire; 
and  the  re-continuing  and  replenishing  the  college 
begun  in  Dublin,  the  placing  of  good  men  to  be 
bishops  in  the  sees  there,  and  the  taking  care  of 
the  versions  of  Bibles,  and  catechisms,  and  other 
books  of  instruction  in  the  Irish  language ;  and 
the  like  religious  courses,  both  for  the  honor  of 
God,  and  for  the  avoiding  of  scandal  and  unsatis- 
faction  here,  by  the  show  of  toleration  in  religion 
in  some  parts  there."  Little  or  no  notice  appears 
to  have  been  taken  of  Bacon's  advice. 

It  may  be  hoped  that  Dublin  itself  was  not  so 
destitute  of  faithful  Christian  ministrations  in  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  as  Spenser's 
statements  show  too  many  portions  of  the  island 
to  have  been.    Travers,  who  remained  provost  of 


AND   CHARLES   I.  91 

the  college  till  1601,  must  have  had  some  influ- 
ence for  the  truth  of  the  gospel  in  the  city. 
Usher,  also,  had  been  catechist-reader  in  the  col- 
lege, and,  about  1602,  was  appointed  afternoon 
preacher  in  Christ  Church,  where  the  court  at- 
tended. 

Having  mentioned  Usher's  connection  with  the 
college,  we  may  add  that  the  English  army,  when 
they  had  defeated  the  Spaniards  and  disaffected 
Irish  in  the  south  of  the  country,  raised  among 
themselves  the  sum  of  £1800  to  furnish  a  library 
for  the  Dublin  University,  and  placed  it  in  the 
hands  of  "  Dr.  Challoner  and  Mr.  James  Usher/' 
to  be  expended  in  the  purchase  of  books  for  the 
purpose.  The  military  have  seldom  perhaps  been 
thus  forward  in  such  good  works ;  but,  as  we 
shall  see,  this  was  not  the  last  instance  of  the 
college  library  deriving  aid  from  the  bountiful- 
ness  of  the  English  soldiery. 

Under  the  date  of  1605,  Whitelaw's  "  History 
of  Dublin"  records,  "  The  Jesuits  and  seminary 
priests  busied  themselves  greatly  in  dissuading 
the  people  from  resorting  to  Divine  service  ac- 
cording to  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  and  the  king's 
proclamation  thereon  grounded.  The  lord  deputy 
(Chichester)  and  council  convened  before  them 
the  aldermen  and  some  of  the  principal  citizens, 
and  endeavored  by  persuasions  and  lenity  to  draw 
them  to  their  duty.  They  also  exemplified  under 
the  great  seal,  and  published  the  Statute  of  Uni- 
formity of  the  2d  of  Elizabeth,  in  regard  there 
was  found  to  be  some  material  difference  between 
the  original  record  and  the  printed  copies,  that 


92  DUBLIN   UNDER  JAMES   I. 

none  might  pretend  ignorance  of  the  original 
record,  and  added  thereto  .the  king's  injunction 
for  the  observance  of  the  said  statute.  But  these 
gentle  methods  failing  to  have  any  effect,  sixteen 
of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  city  were  con- 
vened into  the  court  of  the  "  Castle  Chamber" — 
answering  to  the  "  Star  Chamber"  in  England — 
"  of  whom  nine  of  the  chief  were  censured,  and 
six  of  the  aldermen  fined  each  £100,  and  the 
other  three  £50  a-piece ;  and  they  were  all  com- 
mitted prisoners  to  the  Castle  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  court ;  and  it  was  ordered  that  none  of  the 
citizens  should  bear  office  till  they  conformed. 
The  week  following,  the  rest  were  censured  in 
the  same  manner,  except  alderman  Archer,  who 
conformed.  Their  fines  were  allotted  to  the  re- 
pairs of  such  churches  as  had  been  damaged  by 
an  accidental  blowing  up  of  gunpowder  in  1596, 
to  the  relieving  poor  scholars  in  the  college,  and 
other  charitable  uses.  This  proceeding  brought 
many  to  an  outward  conformity."  The  "  blowing 
up  of  the  gunpowder"  mentioned,  was  an  ex- 
plosion of  144  barrels  which  had  been  landed  at 
Wood  Quay,  and  stored  in  Winetavern  street  for 
the  use  of  the  Castle.  Nearly  fifty  houses  were 
burned,  and  about  four  hundred  lives  lost  by  this~~ 
accident. 

The  measures  adopted  to  enforce  Protestantism, 
provoked  resistance  to  the  government  on  the 
part  of  the  Romanists.  In  1607,  a  conspiracy 
was  formed  between  the  Earls  of  Tyrone  and 
Tyrconnel,  with  other  leading  persons,  to  seize 
the  castle,  cut  off  the  lord  deputy  and  the  coun- 


AND   CnARLES   I.  93 

cil,  dissolve  the  state,  and  set  up  a  new  authority. 
A  Roman  Catholic  who  had  been  invited  to  join, 
but  who  shrank  from  the  design,  dropped  a  letter 
in  the  Council  Chamber,  addressed  to  Sir  William 
Usher,  clerk  of  the  council,  giving  the  particulars 
of  the  plan  as  they  had  been  made  known  to  him. 
The  conspirators  were  apprised  that  they  had 
been  betrayed,  and  fled  before  they  could  be  ap- 
prehended ;  but  their  estates  were  confiscated. 

After  an  interval  of  twenty-seven  years,  a  par- 
liament was  once  more  called  in  1613.  The  two 
parties  disagreed  on  the  choice  of  a  speaker,  and 
the  Romanists  withdrew.  Another  met  the  year 
after  ;  and  a  convocation  of  the  clergy  was  held 
which  adopted  a  code  of  "  articles"  as  the  Con- 
fession of  the  Irish  Church.  This  formulary  of 
faith  was  prepared  by  Usher  :  it  was  essentially 
Puritanic,  being  rigidly  Calvinistic  in  doctrine, 
and  liberal  in  matters  ritual  and  eccesiastical.  It 
declared  the  pope  to  be  the  Man  of  Sin  •  taught 
that  Lent  is  of  merely  political,  not  religious  ob- 
ligation ;  and  affirmed  that  the  Lord's-day  is  to 
be  wholly  devoted  to  the  service  of  God.  It  set 
forth  that  the  catholic  or  invisible  Church  in- 
cludes all  the  faithful  on  earth  and  in  heaven ; 
but  that  "  particular  and  visible  Churches  (con- 
sisting of  those  who  make  profession  of  the  faith 
of  Christ,  and  live  under  the  outward  means  of 
salvation)  be  many  in  number ;  wherein  the  more 
or  less  sincerely  according  to  Christ's  institution, 
the  word  of  God  is  taught,  the  sacraments  are 
duly  administered,  and  the  authority  of  the  keys 
is  used-,  the  more  or  less  pure  are  such  churches 


94  DUBLIN   UNDER   JAMES   I. 

to  be  accounted."  It  makes  no  reference  to  the 
consecration  of  prelates,  as  if,  in  Colly er's  judg- 
ment, done  on  purpose  to  avoid  the  distinction 
between  the  episcopal  order  and  that  of  presby- 
ters; and  Neal  thinks  it  was  u  contrived  to  com- 
promise the  difference  between  the  Church  and 
the  Puritans :"  which  effect,  he  says,  it  had  till 
1634,  wheD,  by  the  influence  of  Archbishop  Laud 
and  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  these  articles  were  set 
aside,  and  others  received  in  their  stead.  It  was 
feared  that  Usher  would  incur  the  king's  dis- 
pleasure by  the  tenor  of  these  articles,  and  at- 
tempts were  not  wanting  to  prejudice  James 
against  him  for  the  leading  part  he  took  in  the 
adoption  of  a  confession  by  the  Irish  Church, 
which  included  much  that  was  contrary  to  the 
king's  principles.  "  But  Usher,"  writes  Leland, 
"  had  the  address  to  guard  against  the  insinua- 
tions of  his  enemies;  and  James  was  so  just  to 
his  piety  and  erudition,  that  he  soon  after  pro- 
moted him  to  the  see  of  Meath." 

A  notice  of  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin  about 
this  period  occurs  incidentally  in  an  account  of 
the  state  of  Ulster,  given  when  James  was  par- 
celling out  six  counties  of  it  which  were  at  his 
disposal  in  consequence  of  confiscations.  "  Sir 
Toby  Caufield's  people  are  driven  every  night  to 
lay  up  all  his  cattle,  as  it  were  in  ward ;  and  do 
he  and  his  what  they  can,  the  woolfe  and  the 
wood-kernac" — a  marauder  living  in  the  wood — 
"within  culiver  shot  of  his  fort,  have  oftentimes 
a  share."  "  Even  in  the  English  pale,"  he  adds, 
"  Sir   John   King   and   Sir  Henry  Harrington, 


AND   CHARLES   I.  95 

within  half  a  mile  of  Dublin,  do  the  like,  for 
these  forenained  enemies  do  every  night  survey 
the  'fields  to  the  very  walls  of  Dublin." 

A  proclamation  for  banishing  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholic regular  clergy  was  issued  in  October,  1617. 
But,  in  five  years  afterwards,  that  party  opened 
a  university  in  Back  Lane,  for  the  education  of 
persons  of  their  own  persuasion  :  Whitelaw,  in- 
deed, dates  this  establishment  later.  When  Lord 
Falkland  came  over  as  lord  deputy,  Usher  preached 
before  him  in  Christ  Church,  and  the  Roinan 
Catholics  took  umbrage  at  the  sermon  as  intended 
to  encourage  persecution  against  them  :  to  satisfy 
them,  he  delivered  an  explanatory  discourse, 
which,  however,  it  is  likely  did  not  give  them 
the  satisfaction  desired.  In  November  following, 
"  several  popish  magistrates,  who  had  refused  the 
oath  of  supremacy,  contrary  to  the  statute  of  2 
Eliz.  cap.  1,  were  censured  in  the  Star  Chamber, 
when  Bishop  Usher  made  a  speech  about  the  law- 
fulness of  the  oath/'"  And,  in  two  months  more, 
there  was  "  issued  a  proclamation  requiring  the 
popish  clergy,  regular  and  secular,  to  depart  the 
kingdom  within  forty  days,  and  forbidding  all  in- 
tercourse with  them  after  that  time/' 

Notwithstanding  all  that  could  be  done  to  sup- 
press them,  the  lord  deputy  found  himself  unable 
to  keep  the  disaffected  in  check.  They  were  aware 
that  the  revenue  of  the  country  fell  seriously  short 
of  the  expenditure,  and  that  the  authorities  had 
not  power  at  command  to  control  them.  The 
troubled  state  of  England  on  Charles's  accession 
and  assumption  of  arbitrary  power,  gave  yet  more 


96  DUBLIN   UNDER   JAMES   I. 

confidence  to  the  Romanist  hierarchy  and  laity. 
They  judged  it  a  favorable  juncture  for  obtaining 
a  toleration  for  their  religion;  and  it  was  not  for 
Charles,  in  his  circumstances,  to  slight  the  appli- 
cations of  a  party  so  important.  Its  leaders  were 
admitted  to  a  conference  on  the  subject  with  the 
authorities  in  Dublin.  They  intimated  that  for 
a  partial  toleration  they  would  give  a  voluntary 
contribution  for  supporting  the  army.  "A  grand 
meeting  of  the  principal  nobility  and  gentry,  in 
which  the  popish  party  was  by  far  the  more 
numerous*,  assembled  in  the  Castle  of  Dublin : 
they  offered  large  contributions  to  purchase  se- 
curity to  their  lands  and  a  suspension  of  the  penal 
statutes.  Lord  Falkland,  far  from  discouraging 
their  overtures,  advised  them  to  send  agents  to 
England,  to  make  a  tender  of  their  dutiful  ser- 
vices to  the  king,  and  to  submit  the  grievances 
and  inconveniences  to  which  they  were  exposed, 
to  his  gracious  consideration/*  These  movements 
alarmed  the  Protestants.  Usher  and  eleven  other 
prelates  met  in  Dublin,  and  entered  a  strong  pro- 
test against  the  measure.  This  protest  was  read 
from  the  Dublin  pulpits,  and  Usher  was  requested 
to  explain  the  grounds  of  it  in  a  speech  before 
the  council  for  the  conviction  of  the  parties  it 
concerned;  and  his  address,  though  it  failed  of 
its  purpose,  was  considered  worthy  of  being  sent 
over  to  the  king,  who  highly  approved  of  it. 

The  Irish  agents,  however,  were  successful  at 
the  English  court.  It  was  greatly  in  their  favor 
that  money  and  strength  were  at  the  time  of 
greater  value  to  Charles,  if  they  were  not  always 


AND   CHARLES   I.  97 

nearer  to  his  heart,  than  Protestant  orthodoxy. 
They  offered  his  majesty  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  pounds,  payable  in  quarterly  instal- 
ments, on  condition  of  receiving  in  return  certain 
royal  "graces,"  which  were  to  be  affirmed  by  par- 
liament. Several  of  these  "  graces,"  it  is  to  be 
observed,  affected  the  property  and  trade  of  the 
country,  and  were  by  all  parties  reckoned  just 
and  beneficial.  Respecting  ecclesiastical  matters, 
it  was  agreed  that  bishops  and  patentees  of  dis- 
solvecTnionasteries  should  be  equally  subject  to 
the  state  burdens  with  other  persons ;  and,  "  as 
the  popish  recusants  had  clamored  against  the 
severe  demands  of  the  established  clergy,  it  was 
provided  that  all  unlawful  exactions  taken  by  the 
clergy  be  reformed  and  regulated  j  and  the  rigor," 
writes  Leland,  "  with  which  their  (the  clergy's) 
demands  had  been  enforced,  may  be  gathered 
from  the  injunction  annexed  :  '  That  no  extra- 
ordinary warrants  of  assistance,  touching  clandes- 
tine marriages,  christenings,  or  burials,  or  any 
contumacies  pretended  against  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction, are  to  be  issued  or  executed  by  any  chief 
governor;  nor  are  the  clergy  to  be  permitted  to 
keep  any  private  prisons  of  their  own  for  these 
causes,  but  delinquents  in  that  kind  are  hence- 
forth to  be  committed  to  the  king's  public  jails 
and  by  the  king's  officers.'  " 

The  success  of  the  Irish  deputies  with  Charles 
well  nigh  intoxicated  the  "  recusants,"  as  the 
Roman  Catholics  were  now  called.  Their  worship 
was  openly  celebrated  in  due  form  and  with  great 
pomp.  Parochial  churches  were  seized  for  their 
4 


98  DUBLIN    UNDER   JAMES    I. 

service.  Their  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  was 
strictly  administered.  JSew  friaries  and  nun- 
neries were  erected.  Priests  from  foreign  semi- 
naries swarmed  into  the  country  and  its  metro- 
polis, sworn  to  hatred  against  England  and  to 
allegiance  to  the  pope,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Propaganda  Fide,  then  lately  established.  These 
swellings  of  Romanism  stirred  the  fears  and  the 
zeal  of  Protestants.  Accustomed  to  look  to  the 
government  as  their  stay,  instead  of  being  them- 
selves valiant  for  the  truth  in  the  use  of  truth's 
own  weapons,  and  relying  upon  God  whose  the 
truth  and  its  triumphs  are,  they  obtained  a  pro- 
clamation from  the  government,  forbidding  the 
exercise  of  the  Roman  Catholic  worship.  The 
Roman  Catholics  despised  the  proclamation,  and 
became  yet  more  bold,  conscious  of  their  superi- 
ority in  the  kind  of  strength  on  which  Protestant- 
ism was  then  made  to  rest  as  its  safeguard.  They 
complained  that  their  agents  in  England  had  ex- 
ceeded their  powers  in  engaging  so  large  a  con- 
tribution to  the  king,  and  that  the  country  was 
not  able  to  bear  the  impost.  Falkland  was  re- 
called, and  Viscount  Ely,  the  lord  chancellor,  and 
the  Earl  of  Cork,  lord  high  treasurer,  were  sworn 
lords  justices.  .  They  proceeded  forthwith  to  exe- 
cute the  laws  against  "  recusants/'  and  to  compel 
attendance  on  the  established  worship.  But  in- 
timation came  that  such  measures  were  not  pleas- 
ing to  the  king.  The  Romanists  were  in  conse- 
quence cheered  on.  A  fraternity  of  Carmelites 
red  in  public,  wearing  the  habit  of  their 
order,  and  celebrated  their  worship  in  one  of  the 


AND    CIIAIILES   I.  99 

most  frequented  parts  of  the  city.  This  was  not 
to  be  endured.  The  archbishop  and  the  mayor 
led  a  body  of  troops  to  their  chapel,  to  disperse 
the  congregation.  The  congregation,  headed  by 
the  priests,  repelled  the  assailants :  the  arch- 
bishop, the  mayor,  and  the  military,  had  to  save 
themselves  by  flight.  An  order  now  came  from 
London  for  the  seizure  of  sixteen  religious 
houses  for  the  king's  use,  and  for  the  transfer 
of  the  Eoman  Catholic  College  to  the  Dublin 
University. 

Affairs  were  in  this  position  when  Wentworth, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Strafford,  arrived  as  lord  de- 
puty in  July,  1633.  He  came,  resolved  to  break 
d<nvn  all  power  in  the  country,  Romanist  or  Pro- 
testant, to  the  king's  will  as  absolute  and  uni- 
versal law.  Wentworth  brought  with  him  Dr. 
Bramhall,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Derry,  a  man 
sufficiently  endowed  with  abilities  and  erudition, 
but  whose  ideas  of  doctrine  and  discipline  were 
so  consonant  with  those  of  Laud,  that  Oliver 
Cromwell  afterwards  called  him  the  "  Canterbury 
of  Ireland." 

A  new  influence  was  now  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  Irish  Established  Church.  Some  of  its  first 
measures  had  reference  to  altering  the  place  of 
the  communion  tables  in  the  castle  chapel  and 
Christ  Church  cathedral,  and  ordering  the  Earl  of 
Cork  to  take  down  a  family  monument  lately 
erected  at  the  east  end  of  the  choir  in  St.  Pa- 
trick's. But  its  most  important  work  was  chang- 
ing the  Church's  profession  of  faith.  The 
Puritanic  cast  of  the   Irish  Church  greatly  en- 


100  DUBLIN   UNDER   JAMES   I. 

couragcd  the  anti-Laud  party  in  England.  "  If, 
therefore/ '  writes  Heylin,  in  his  Life  of  Laud, 
"  the  archbishop  meant  to  have  peace  in  England, 
the  Church  of  Ireland  must  be  won  to  desert  those 
articles,  and  receive  ours  in  England  in  the  place 
thereof/'  Heylin' s  description  of  the  manage- 
ment by  which  the  change  was  brought  about, 
shows  Jesuitism  of  a  high  order,  and  proves  that 
the  majority  of  the  Irish  clergy,  with  Usher  at 
their  head,  in  convocation  at  Dublin,  were  be- 
guiled to  adopt  resolves  contrary  alike  to  their 
intentions  and  convictions.  "  Usher  and  his 
party,"  says  Heylin,  "  found,  too  late,  that  by 
receiving  and  approving  the  English  Articles, 
they  had  abrogated  and  repealed  the  Irish."  "  To 
salve  this  sore/'  Usher  and  some  bishops  of  his 
opinion,  at  the  next  ordinations,  required  subscrip- 
tions to  the  Articles  of  both  churches,  which, 
however,  was  not  required  afterwards,  through 
the  inconsistency  it  involved.  Usher  next  applied 
to  the  lord  deputy  to  have  the  former  Irish  con- 
fession ratified  anew  by  parliament  j  but  the  lord 
deputy  threatened  to  have  that  confession  burned 
by  the  common  hangman ;  and,  when  nothing 
availed  on  the  Irish  side  of  the  channel,  assur- 
ances were  sent  to  persons  of  distinction  in  Eng- 
land that  the  Irish  Articles  were  not  recalled. 
"  But  all  this,"  Heylin  somewhat  exuitingly  re- 
cords, "  would  not  serve  the  turn,  or  save  those 
articles  from  being  brought  under  repeal  by  the 
present  canon."  He  intimates,  that  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  Irish  Articles  which  asserted  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  Lord's  Day,  removed  an  objection  to 


AND   CHARLES   T.  101 

his  majesty's  declaration  about  lawful  sports  on 
that  day;  and  he  quotes  from  Fuller,  that  "the 
Irish  Articles,  wherein  Arminianism  was  con- 
demned in  termini's  tcrminantibus,  and  the  obser- 
vation of  the  Lord's  Day  resolved  Jure  Diuino, 
were  utterly  excluded/' 

Thus  Laud  triumphed  over  the  Irish  Church. 
The  Dublin  college  was  regulated  with  compara- 
tive ease.  He  was  appointed  its  chancellor,  and 
remodelled  its  constitution  and  statutes,  so  far  as 
policy  would  allow,  after  his  own  mind.  To  make 
Laud's  victory  doubly  sure,  a  court  of  High  Com- 
mission was  established  in  Dublin  :  a  fit  coadjutor 
to  the  court  of  Castle  Chamber,  or  Irish  Star 
Chamber,  already  existing. 

From  affairs  ecclesiastical,  arranged  so  ably  for 
Laud  by  Bramhall,  we  now  turn  to  affairs  ^ecular, 
not  quite  so  well  adjusted  for  Charles  by  Weat- 
worth.  In  the  parliament  which  sat  during  the 
convocation  in  1634,  the  lord  deputy  obtained  in 
the  commons  a  vote  of  six  subsidies,  amounting 
in  the  whole  to  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
pounds:  the  vote  was  encumbered  only  with  re- 
commendations as  to  the  modes  in  which,  the 
money  should  be  applied.  The  lords  were  not 
quite  so  accommodating.  They  required  a  re- 
dress of  "  grievances"  and  a  confirmation  of  the 
"  graces/'  particularly  the  one  which  limited  the 
king's  title  to  lands.  Against  their  resolve  Went- 
worth  entered  a  protest,  founded  on  an  act  called, 
from  its  author,  Poyning's,  which  required  that 
no  bill  should  be  proposed  in  the  Irish  parliament 
that  had  not  been  approved  by  the  king  in  council. 


102  DUBLIN   UNDER   JAMES   I. 

An  apparently  trifling  incident,  but  one  which 
was  really  important,  happened  in  the  beginning 
of  this  parliament.  To  prevent  danger  from  col- 
lisions of  opinion  which  might  arise  in  the  heat 
of  debate,  an  order  had  once  been  given  that 
peers,  on  entering  the  honse,  should  leave  their 
swords  with  the  usher  of  the  black  rod.  Went- 
worth  revived  this  order.  The  young  Earl  of 
Ormond  presented  himself  at  the  door,  but  refused 
to  comply  with  the  usher's  demand.  The  official 
insisted  on  his  submission.  Ormond  replied,  that 
if  he  must  receive  his  sword  it  should  be  in  his 
body;  and,  not  waiting  for  permission,  entered 
the  house  and  took  his  seat.  The  lord  deputy, 
highly  incensed,  summoned  Ormond  to  answer  for 
his  conduct.  "  The  young  lord  appeared,  avowed 
his  knowledge  of  the  order,  and  his  own  wilful 
disobedience;  but  added,  that  he  had  received 
the  investiture  of  his  earldom  per-  cincturam 
gladii,  and  was  both  entitled  and  bound  by  the 
royal  command  to  attend  his  duty  in  parliament 
gladio  ductus.  Wentworth,"  continues  Lelancl, 
"  was  abashed  and  confounded.  He  consulted  his 
friends  whether  he  should  at  once  crush  or  recon- 
cile this  daring  spirit.  They  reminded  him  of  the 
necessity  of  gaining  some  of  the  great  personages 
of  Ireland :  of  the  power,  connections,  and  capa- 
city of  the  earl :  of  the  good  disposition  he  had 
already  discovered  to  the  interests  of  the  crown, 
and  of  his  influence  in  the  house  of  peers."  These 
considerations  weighed  with  "Wentworth  to  attempt 
reconciling  the  refractory  Ormond,  who  soon  be- 
came a  particular  favorite  at  the  Irish  court,  and 


AND   CHARLES   I.  103 

at  the  age  of  twenty-four  had  a  seat  in  the  privy 
council.  Winning  Orinond  over  to  the  king's 
party  was  a  gain  to  Charles  in  Ireland,  hardly 
second  in  value  to  Charles's  alienating  Wentworth 
from  the  popular  side  in  England  and  attaching 
him  to  the  royal  cause.  x 

"  The  splendor  of  the  court  of  Dublin  during 
the  vice-royalty  of  Strafford,"  observes  the  Irish 
Quarterly  Review,  "  far  exceeded  any  thing  before 
known  in  the  city.  '  Other  deputies,'  says  the 
earl,  in  1633,  '  kept  never  a  horse  in  their  stables, 
put  up  the  king's  pay  for  their  troop  and  company 
in  a  manner  clear  into  their  purses,  infinitely  to 
his  majesty's  disservice,  in  the  example:  I  have 
threescore  good  horses  in  mine,  which  will  stand 
me  iu  twelve  hundred  pounds  a  year,  and  a  guard 
of  fifty  men  waiting  on  his  majesty's  deputy  every 
Sunday,  personable  men  and  well  appointed.  Other 
deputies  have  kept  their  tables  for  thirty  pounds 
a  week :  it  stands  me  (besides  my  stable)  in  three 
score  and  ten  pounds  when  it  is  at  least/  The 
author  of  the  Epistolce  Ho-Eliance,  writing  from 
Dublin  during  Strafford's  vicegerency,  says,  '  Here 
is  a  most  splendid  court  kept  at  the  castle,  and 
except  that  of  the  viceroy  of  Naples,  I  have  not 
seen  the  like  in  Christendom ;  and  in  one  point 
of  graudeza  the  lord  deputy  here  goes  beyond 
him,  for  he  can  confer  honors  and  dub  knights, 
which  that  viceroy  cannot,  or  any  other  that  I 
know  of.  Traflick  iucreaseth  here  wonderfully, 
with  all  kinds  of  bravery  and  buildings.'  A 
tourist,  who  had  travelled  through  Holland,  the 
United  Provinces,  England,  and  Scotland,  tells 


101  DUBLIN    UNDER  JAMES   I. 

us,  in  1635,  that  l  Dublin  is,  beyond  all  exception, 
tbe  fairest,  richest,  best  built  city  he  had  met 
with,  (except  York  and  Newcastle :)  it  is  far  be- 
yond Edinborough :  only  one  street  in  Edinborough 
(the  great  long  street)  surpasseth  any  street  here. 
Here  is  the  lord  deputy,  and  the  state  and  council 
of  the  kingdom/  '  This  city  of  Dublin/  conti- 
nues the  same  author,  '  is  extending  his  bounds 
and  limits  very  far :  much  additions  of  building 
lately,  and  some  of  them  very  fine,  stately,  and 
complete  buildings :  every  commodity  is  grown 
very  dear.  You  must  pay  also  for  an  horse  hire 
Is.  6(7.  a  day.  There  are  various  commodities 
cried  in  Dublin  as  in  London,  which  it  doth  more 
resemble  than  any  other  town  I  have  seen  in  the 
King  of  Engknd's  dominions/  " 

"  The  excess  to  which  luxury  in  dress  was 
carried  in  Dublin  about  this  period,  called  forth 
the  interference  of  the  legislature,  and  in  1634 
it  was  >  ordered  by  the  Irish  house  of  commons, 
that  'the  proposition  made  against  the  excessive 
wearing  of  bone  lace,  and  of  gold  and  silver 
lace,  should  be  referred  to  the  consideration  of  the 
committee  of  grievances,  to  consider  what  persons 
and  degrees  are  fifr  to  use  the  same,  and  how,  for 
to  report  their  opinion  thereon  to  the  house/  '■' 

Not  fewer  than  fifty  peers  attended  the  par- 
liament called  by  Wentworth,  and  they,  with 
the  members  of  the  lower  house,  must  have 
added  much  to  the  trade  and  splendor  of  the  city. 
Some  families  of  distinction  had  mansions  worthy 
of  their  rank.  Among  them  was  the  Earl  of 
Cork's,  at  the  Dame's  gate,  near  the  castle,  from 


AND   CHARLES   I.  105 

which  the  ascent  there  acquired  the  name  of 
"Cork  Hill."  This  building  was  afterwards 
taken  on  lease  by  the  government  of  Charles  I., 
and  it  was  occupied  for  public  purposes  early 
under  the  common  wealth,  though  by  that  time  it 
had  fallen  much  into  decay. 

Little,  it  is  to  be  feared,  can  be  said  favorable 
to  the  state  of  Christian  piety  in  Dublin  at  this 
period.  Dr.  Joshua  Hoyle  occupied  the  pulpit 
of  St.  Werburgh's,  where  he  is  said  to  have 
preached  at  ten  in  the  morning  and  at  three  in 
the  afternoon.  He  is  described  as  "  the  friend 
of  Usher,  and  the  tutor  and  chamber-fellow  of 
Sir  James  Ware,"  "  a  most  zealous  preacher  and 
general  scholar  in  all  manner  of  learning."  He 
was  a  fellow  and  professor  of  divinity  in  the  uni- 
versity. He  appeared  as  one  of  the  witnesses 
against  Laud  on  his  trial,  and  afterwards  was  a 
constantly-attending  member  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  Divines.  Wood,  in  the  "Athense 
Oxonienses,"  gives  him  a  high  character.  He- 
had  studied  at  Oxford,  and  died  master  of  Uni- 
versity College  there  in  1654. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  gayety  and  appearance 
of  prosperity  in  the  metropolis,  the  elements  of 
strife  already  adverted  to  were  generating  fearful 
convulsions  in  the  country.  Rome,  by  its  bulls, 
its  nuncio,  its  emissaries,  conspired  with  Charles's 
self-seeking  tyranny  and  duplicity,  to  sever  it 
from  England  and  Protestantism  together;  but 
the  details  of  organizations  and  movements  direct- 
ed to  this  end  belong  to  the  history  of  Ireland 
rather  than  of  Dublin.     The  lord  deputy's  rule 


106  DUBLIN    UNDER   JAMES    I. 

here  was  of  the  same  tenor  with  that  of  his  mas- 
ter :  it  aggravated  discontent  in  the  honest  and 
well-disposed,  while  it  cheered  on  the  revolted. 
Wentworth  returned  to  England,  where  he  was 
created  Earl  of  Strafford.  He  was  impeached, 
attainted,  and  executed.  Sir  Christopher  Wands- 
ford  was  appointed  lord  deputy,  but  died  sud- 
denly. Sir  William  Parsons  and  Sir  John  Borlase 
were  sworn  lords  justices  in  February,  1641.  The 
insurgents  had  their  schemes  laid  widely,  but 
with  so  much  secrecy  that  the  authorities  were 
totally  unaware  of  their  intentions.  They  had 
prepared  to  possess  themselves  of  Dublin,  with 
its  castle,  and  on  the  22nd  of  October  they  re- 
solved to  effect  their  purpose  on  the  evening  of 
the  next  day. 

Providentially  for  the  city,  its  inhabitants,  and 
the  government,  one  Mac  Mahon,  a  leader  among 
the  rebels,  had  disclosed  their  projects  to  a  man 
named  Owen  0' Connolly,  servant  to  a  Protestant 
gentleman  in  the  north,  hoping  to  engage  him 
with  them.  This  man  came  up  to  Dublin  in 
quest  of  a  friend  on  the  22d,  when  he  met  Mac 
Mahon,  and  while  they  were  drinking  together, 
the  latter  divulged  to  him  the  plan  for  the  fol- 
lowing day.  Half-intoxicated  as  he  was,  0' Con- 
nolly stole  away  and  gave  information  to  Sir 
William  Parsons.  The  man's  appearance  made 
Sir  William  for  the  moment  pay  little  regard  to 
his  statements.  He  was  told  to  go  and  obtain 
further  information.  But  Tub  was  hardly  dismissed 
when  it  struck  Sir  William  that  what  the  man 
had  said  was  more  important  than  it  at  first  seemed 


AND   CHARLES   I.  107 

to  be.  He  ordered  the  castle  and  city  to  be 
guarded,  and  went  to  his  fellow  lord  justice,  Sir 
John  Borlase.  The  privy  council  were  summoned. 
3Iessengers  were  sent  to  discover  and  bring 
O'Counolly  again.  He  was  found  with  the  po- 
lice, who  had  taken  him  in  charge  for  not  being 
able  to  give  an  account  of  himself.  By  his  dis- 
closures, Mac  Mahon,  Lord  Maguire,  and  some 
more,  were  arrested  j  but  other  leaders,  hearing 
of  the  discovery,  saved  themselves  by  instant 
flight.  Most  opportunely,  Sir  Francis  Willough- 
by,  governor  of  Gralway  Castle,  a  privy-councillor 
and  an  able  soldier,  reached  Dublin  at  this  critical 
moment.  He  found  the  gates  closed  and  the 
suburbs  in  much  confusion.  Hearing  that  the 
lords  justices  and  the  privy  council  were  in  de- 
liberation at  Sir  John  Borlase's,  on  the  green 
leading  to  the  college,  he  went  thither.  He  told 
them  that  in  the  country  through  which  he  passed 
he  observed  no  signs  of  disturbance,  but  that  an 
unusual  number  of  strange  horsemen  had  all  night 
been  pouring  into  the  suburbs.  He  recommend- 
ed an  adjournment  to  the  castle  for  greater  secu- 
rity. The  lords  justices  and  council  acted  on  his 
suggestions,  assigned  to  him  the  general  defence 
of  the  place,  and  issued  a  proclamation  informing 
the  public  of  the  plot  discovered,  and  exhorting 
to  loyalty  and  courage  in  self-defence. 

The  force  at  the  command  of  the  government 
did  not  exceed  three  thousand  men,  and  these 
were  scattered  in  garrisons  and  detachments 
through  the  country.  In  Dublin  castle  were 
"  one  thousand  five  hundred  barrels  of  powder, 


108  DUBLIN   UNDER   JAMES   I.       . 

with  proportionate  match  and  bullet,  arras  f5r  ten 
thousand  men,  and  thirty-five  pieces  of  artillery 
with  all  their  equipage/'  For  its  security  were 
"eight  infirm  wardens  and  forty  halberdiers/' 
being  the  parade  guard  of  the  chief  magistrate  on 
state  occasions.  Willoughby  was  prompt  and 
energetic.  "  The  council  table  was  his  only  couch. 
He  could  not  venture  to  lay  down  his  drawbridge 
without  the  attendance  of  his  whole  insignificant 
guard,  until  the  arrival  of  a  part  of  his  disbanded 
regiment  from  Carlisle  enabled  him  to  arm  two 
hundred  men  for  the  defence  of  the  castle;  a 
body  soon  reinforced  by  those  who  fled  for  shelter 
to  the  capital,  and  by  some  detachments  of  the 
army  recalled  from  their  quarters  by  the  lords 
justices." 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  consternation  of 
the  citizens.  Rumors  the  most  appalling  flew 
like  lightning.  Many  of  the  English  went  on 
board  vessels  in  the  river  to  return  to  their 
native  country,  and,  though  wind-bound,  preferred 
remaining  on  the  water  to  venturing  on  land 
again.  A  fleet  of  Scotch  fishermen  offered  five 
hundred  of  their  men  for  the  service  of  the  state, 
but  just  as  the  offer  was  accepted,  they  set  sail 
under  a  false  alarm.  Four  hundred  soldiers,  em- 
barked for  the  service  of  Spain,  and  detained  by 
order  of  the  English  parliament,  were  not  per- 
mitted to  leave  the  ships  till  they  were  nearly 
perishing  from  hunger,  and  eventually  they  dis- 
persed to  join  the  rebel  cause.  However,  under 
the  advice  of  Sir  John  Temple,  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  the  principal  Protestant  merchants  of  the 


AND   CHARLES   I.  100 

city  deposited  their  goods  and  valuables  in  the 
castle,  under  a  guarantee  of  payment  for  what- 
ever should  be  applied  to  the  public  service. 
Thus  provisions  were  obtained  when  the  treasury 
was  exhausted,  and  when  the  magistrates  of  the 
city  could  not  or  would  not  advance  money  to  the 
government. 

Dublin  was  saved  and  became  tranquil.  Not 
so  the  country.  In  the  course  of  the  ensuing 
winter,  horrors  were  perpetrated  the  accounts  of 
which  make  the  blood-  run  cold  as  we  read  them 
in  our  own  day.  "  Forty  thousand  persons,  and 
by  some  computations/'  writes  Godwin,  "five 
times  that  number,  are  said  to  have  perished  in 
this  undistinguishing  massacre." 

Charles,  unable  to  adjust  matters  with  the 
Parliament,  appealed  to  arms  in  support  of  his 
prerogative.  In  August,  1642,  he  unfurled  his 
standard  at  Nottingham.  "  A  high  wind  beat 
down  the  flag,  an  evil  omen,  as  it  was  deemed  by 
some  who  saw  it,  and  a  symbol  as  it  proved  of  the 
result  of  that  unnatural  conflict. "  At  length, 
Ireland  became  the  dernier  resort  of  the  royal 
cause.  Ormond  was  made  lord  deputy  and  com- 
mander of  the  army.  He  soon  found  himself  in 
a  position  of  difficulty  between  two  antagonists — 
the  friends  of  Protestantism,  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  confederates  —  neither  of  whom  now 
cared  much  for  his  sovereign,  but  against  both  of 
whom,  though  hostile  the  one  to  the  other,  he 
felt  it  impossible  to  maintain  his  ground.  The 
month  of  February,  1617,  found  him  yet  in  Dub- 
lin, but  under  the  necessity  of  deciding  to  which 


110    DUBLIN  UNDER  JAMES  I.  AND  CHARLES  I. 

party  he  would  yield.  His  choice  was  in  favor  of 
the  English  parliament.  In  April,  several  of 
their  regiments  arrived,  and  in  June  came  their 
commissioners  with  more  troops.  To  these  Or- 
mond  formally  surrendered  Dublin,  Drogheda, 
then  called  Tredagh,  and  other  garrisons  j  and  in 
July  he  delivered  up  into  their  hands  the  insig- 
nia of  his  authority,  and  went  to  England.  One 
of  the  three  persons  given  by  Ormond  as  host- 
ages for  this  capitulation,  was  the  eminent  Sir 
James  Ward,  "  the  Camden  of  Ireland." 

Thus  ended  the  reign  of  Charles  over  Dublin. 
The  city  was  in  a  most  wretched  and  dilapidated 
state.  By  returns  dated  August,  1644,  its  in- 
habitants numbered — Protestants,  2,565  men,  and 
2,986  women  j  Roman  Catholics,  1^202  men,  and 
1,406  women;  total,  8,159.  But  perhaps  this 
census  embraced  only  adults ;  or,  which  is  more 
probable,  it  did  not  include  the  suburbs;  other- 
wise the  population  had  decreased  three-fifths 
during  the  preceding  thirty-four  years — a  dimi- 
nution incredible,  even  with  every  allowance  for 
havoc  made  by  war,  pestilence,  and  famine. 


DUBLIN   AT    THE    COMMONWEALTH,  ETC.  Ill 


SECTION   V. 

DUBLIN  AT  THE  COMMONWEALTH,  THE  RESTORA- 
TION, AND  THE  REVOLUTION. 

On  the  surrender  of  Dublin  to  the  parliament- 
ary commissioners,  they  appointed  colonel  Michael 
Jones  to  be  its  governor  with  the  command  of 
the  troops.  His  first  care  was  to  repair  the  walls 
and  otherwise  to  prepare  the  city  for  defence 
against  the  army  of  the  confederates  which 
threatened  it.  Within  a  fortnight  after  Ormond 
had  left,  Jones  marched  forth  and  attacked  them 
at  Duggan's  Hill,  gaining  a  complete  victory. 
They  are  said  to  have  had  between  five  and  six 
thousand  slain  in  the  engagement ;  fifteen  of  their 
field-officers,  and  eighty-four  other  commissioned 
oificers  were  among  the  prisoners ',  while  Jones 
lost  only  twenty  men.  Besides  artillery  and 
other  spoil,  sixty-four  "  fair  oxen"  fell  into  his 
hands,  and  proved  a  most  seasonable  supply.  A 
person  giving  an  account  of  the  battle,  wrote, 
"All  their  colors  we  have,  which  Colonel  Jones 
would  not  be  persuaded  to  have  brought  into 
Dublin  with  triumph,  as  savoring  (said  he)  of  os- 
tentation, and  attributing  to  man  the  glory  of  this 
great  work  due  to  the  Lord  alone. ;;     By  Novem- 


112       DUBLIN   AT   THE   COMMONWEALTH, 

ber,  however,  the  rebel  leader,  Owen  Roe  O'Neil, 
was  committing  such  devastations  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Dublin,  that  not  fewer  than  two  hun- 
dred fires  were  visible  at  the  same  time  from  one 
of  the  church  steeples. 

Ormond,  still  attached  to  Charles,  and  think- 
ing it  possible  even  yet  to  retrieve  his  royal  mas- 
ter's affairs,  returned  to  Jreland.  In  January, 
1648-9,  he  concluded  a  peace  with  the  confeder- 
ates, in  the  king's  name  and  behalf.  Charlgs, 
or  Glamorgan,  whom  he  accredited  for  the  pur- 
pose, had  often  negotiated  and  made  peace  with 
them  before,  and  as  often  had  the  terms  agreed 
on  been  disallowed  or  broken  through.  Lord 
Inchiquin  also  now  made  common  cause  with  the 
Irish :  the  Scots  of  Ulster,  too,  ranged  them- 
selves against  the  parliament  and  the  "  sectaries. " 
Early  in  1649,  Oliver  Cromwell  was  appointed 
by  the  parliament  their  lord-lieutenant  for  Ire- 
land. He  invited  the  eminent  Dr.  John  Owen, 
whose  "  Exposition  of  the  Hebrews"  and  other 
works,  are  yet  well  known  and  valued,  to  accom- 
pany him  as  chaplain,  and  to  regulate  the  affairs 
of  Trinity  College.  To  this,  after  much  difficulty, 
Owen  acceded.  The  army  for  Ireland,  under 
Cromwell's  command,  assembled  at  Milford  Haven 
in  August,  and  the  day  before  embarking  was 
spent  by  them  in  fasting  and  prayer. 

About  this  juncture,  Dublin  was  in  deep  dis- 
tress. Jones,  its  governor,  was  closely  pressed 
by  Ormond  and  the  confederates,  who  had  en- 
camped at  Finglass,  but  on  July  the  25th  had 
removed  to  llathmines,  on  the  opposite  side  of 


THE  RESTORATION  AND  REVOLUTION.      113 

the  city.  There  Jones  attacked  them  with  suc- 
cess. The  parliament  ordered  his  dispatch  to  be 
printed  for  the  information  of  the  English  public. 
Some  extracts  from  this  small  old  pamphlet  may 
iuterest  the  reader.  The  battle  is  sometimes 
mentioned  as  fought  at  "  Bagotrath,"  a  place  be- 
tween Donnybrook  and  Beggar's  Bush,  now  occu- 
pied by  Upper  Bagot  street,  taking  its  name  from 
a  "rath"  or  fort  there,  which,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  came  into  the  possession  of  the  "  Bagot" 
family.  The  conflict  probably  waxed  strongest 
over  the  lands  extending  from  that  place  to  Rath- 
mines.  Rathniines  was  then  "compassed  by  a 
wall  about  sixteen  feet  high,  and  inclosing  ten 
acres  of  ground." 

The  pamphlet  has  for  its  title — "  Lieutenant- 
General  Jones's  Letter  to  the  Council  of  State,  of 
a  Great  Victory  which  it  had  pleased  God  to  give 
the  forces,  in  the  City  of  Dublin,  under  his  com- 
mand on  the  Second  of  this  instant  August, 
against  the  Earl  of  Ormond's  and  the  Lord  Inchi- 
quin's  forces  before  the  City."  Jones's  letter 
begins  :  "  Right  Honorable :  the  Lord  hath  bless- 
ed this  your  army  with  good  success  against 
Ormond  and  his,  for  which  God's  most  holy  name 
be  glorified."  After  giving  the  particulars  of  the 
engagement,  he  proceeds  :  "  The  whole  work  is 
the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes; 
by  whose  especial  providence  it  was  that  we  should 
thus  engage,  we  ourselves  at  first  not  so  far  intend- 
ing it;  neither  did  the  enemy  expect  our  doing 
so ;  nor  would  they  have  willingly  engaged  with 
us;  if  it  might  have  been  by  them  avoided,  they 


114       DUBLIN   AT    THE    COMMONWEALTH, 

reserving  themselves  for  the  coming  up  of  Clan- 
ricard  with  his  Connanght  forces,  about  three 
thousand,  and  the  Lord  of  Ard's  with  his  seven 
thousand  Scots,  all  ready  for  marching;  Lnchiquin 
also  being  looked  for,  who  had  the  week  before 
gone  towards  Munster,  with  two  regimeuts  of 
horse,  for  appeasing  some  stirrings  there  by  Owen 
Eoe,  raised  in  his  absence.  Never  was  any  day 
in  Ireland  like  this,  to  the  confusion  of  the  Irish, 
and  to  the  raising  up  the  spirits  of  the  poor  Eng- 
lish, and  to  the  restoring  of  the  English  interest, 
which,  from  their  first  footing  in  Ireland,  was 
never  in  so  low  a  condition  as  at  that  very  in- 
stant, there  not  being  one  considerable  landing- 
place  left  you  but  this  alone,  and  this  also 
(without  this  the  Lord's  most  gracious  goodness 
and  providence  to  us)  almost  gone,"  etc.  "  Your 
honor's  most  faithful  servant,  Mic.  Jones. 
Dated  Dublin,  Aug.  6,  1619."  In  addition 
to  the  numbers  slain,  Jones  took  prisoners  seven- 
teen field  officers,  and  more  than  150  other  com- 
missioned officers.  Of  the  troops  taken,  1,500 
joined  the  parliamentary  service.  "A  list  of 
artillery  taken  .from  the  Irish  at  Ramines,  the 
2d  of  August,  1619.  One  brass  cannon,  weigh- 
ing 7,321  pounds,  her  length  10  feet,  her  bullet 
weighing  44  pounds.  One  brass  demi-cannon 
eldest,  weighing  5,428  pounds,  her  length  11 J 
feet,  her  bullet  weighing  32  pounds.  Two  brass 
demi-cannon  of  one  mould,  each  weighing  4,400 
pounds,  their  length  9  J  feet,  their  bullet  weigh- 
ing 26  pounds.  One  square  brass  demi-culverin 
weighing  2,800  pounds,  her  length  11  feet  4  inches, 


THE  RESTORATION   AND    REVOLUTION.    115 

her  bullet  weighing  12  pounds.  One  small  brass 
Baker-drake,  weighing  600  pounds,  her  length  4? 
feet,  her  bullet  weighing  6  pounds.  One  brass 
mortar-piece  weighing  927  pounds,  her  shell 
weighing  100  pounds."  "  Captain  Otway,  the 
messenger  that  brought  this  dispatch,"  says  the 
pamphlet,  "  who  was  an  actor  in  that  service,  re- 
lates that  the  enemy  marched  away  with  such 
haste  that  they  left  their  whole  camp,  which  was 
very  well  furnished  of  all  provisions  of  victual, 
store  of  wine,  silks  and  velvet,  scarlet  and  other 
cloth,  both  woollen  and  linen,  and  some  money, 
all  the  cattle  left  in  the  quarters  of  Dublin  as 
they  found  them  there.  Wednesday,  the  8th, 
was  appointed  to  be  a  day  of  thanksgiving  in 
Dublin  for  this  great  victory."  Besides  the  cas- 
tles of  Rathmines  and  Rathgar,  Naas,  Maynooth, 
and  various  other  places,  surrendered  to  Jones  at 
that  time.  The  Earl  of  Fingall  and  a  brother  of 
Ormond  were  among  the  prisoners,  and  it  is  said 
that  Ormond  himself  narrowly  escaped. 

The  news  of  this  "  great  victory"  reached 
Cromwell  at  Milford,  and  is  noticed  by  him  in 
letters  written  on  ship-board  when  about  to  sail. 
About  the  middle  of  August,  he  "landed  at 
Ringsend  with  8,000  foot,  4,000  horse,  a  for- 
midable train  of  artillery,  and  all  other  neces- 
saries of  war."  In  Dublin,  he  "  was  received  with 
all  possible  demonstrations  of  joy )  the  great  guns 
echoing  forth  their  welcome,  and  the  acclamations 
of  the  citizens  resounding  in  every  street.  The 
Lord  Lieutenant  being  come  into  the  city — where 
the  concourse  of  the  citizens  was  very  great,  they 


116       DUBLIN   AT   THE   COMMONWEALTH, 

all  flocking  to  see  him  of  whom  they  had  heard 
so  much — at  a  convenient  place  he  made  a  stand, 
and  with  his  hat  in  his  hand,  made  a  speech  to 
them/'  This  speech  was  entertained  with  great 
applause  by  the  people,  who  all  cried  out,  "  "W« 
will  live  and  die  with  you  !" 

Cromwell  had  nothing  to  detain  him  in  Dublin, 
beyond  making  arrangements  for  governing  the 
city,  and  for  prosecuting  the  campaign  on  which 
he  was  about  to  enter :  the  rout  of  Ormond  by 
Jones  had  cleared  the  way  for  him  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  metropolis.  In  a  few  days,  he 
with  his  army  marched  towards  Drogheda,  where 
he  promptly  gave  unmistakable  and  terrific  proof 
of  the  course  he  had  resolved  to  pursue.  Carlyle 
describes  it  truly  :  "  Oliver  descended  on  Ireland 
like  the  hammer  of  Thor — smote  it,  as  at  one  fell 
stroke,  into  dust  and  ruin,  never  to  reunite  against 
him  more."  "To  him,"  Merle  d'Aubigne  says, 
"  the  most  energetic  way  appeared  the  most  hu- 
mane." Even  Sir  Jonas  Barrington  writes  of 
him,  "  Never  was  any  rebel  so  triumphant  as  he 
was  in  Ireland ;  yet  it  is  impossible  to  deny,  that 
perhaps  a  less  decisive  or  less  cruel  general  than 
that  splendid  usurper,  might  by  lenity  have  in- 
creased the  misery  in  prolonging  the  warfare,  and 
have  lengthened  out  the  sanguinary  scenes  of  an 
unavailing  resistance." 

Owen  did  not  accompany  Cromwell  to  the  coun  • 
try.  He  remained  preaching  in  Dublin  till,  in  a 
few  months,  through  abundant  labors  in  that  and 
other  ways,  his  health  declined,  and  he  returned 
to  his  pastorate  at  Coggeshall  in  Essex.      In  a 


THE   RESTORATION   AND   REVOLUTION.    117 

sermon  on  "  The  Steadfastness  of  the  Promises 
and  the  Sinfulness  of  Staggering/'  preached  be- 
fore the  parliament,  February  28th,  1649,  he  lays 
open  the  case  of  Ireland,  and  pleads  in  its  behalf 
in  a  style  worthy  of  himself.  "How  is  it,"  he 
asks,  "  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  Ireland  only  as  a 
lion  staining  all  his  garments  with  the  blood  of 
his  enemies ;  and  none  to  hold  him  out  as  a  Lamb 
sprinkled  with  his  own  blood  to  his  friends  ?  Is- 
it  the  sovereignty  and  interest  of  England  that 
is  alone  to  be  there  transacted  ?  For  my  part,  I 
see  no  further  into  the  mystery  of  these  things, 
but  that  I  could  heartily  rejoice  that,  innocent 
blood  being  expiated,  the  Irish  might  enjoy  Ire- 
land so  long  as  the  moon  endureth,  so  that  Jesus 
Christ  might  possess  the  Irish."  In  urging  his 
auditors  to  "do  their  utmost  for  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  in  Ireland,"  he  pleads  in  this  strain  : 
"They  want  it.  No  want  like  theirs  who  want 
the  gospel.  I  would  there  were  for  the  present 
one  gospel  preacher  for  every  walled  town  in  the 
English  possession  in  Ireland.  The  land  mourn- 
eth,  and  the  people  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge  : 
many  run  to  and  fro,  but  it  is  upon  other  designs  : 
knowledge  is  not  increased.  They  are  sensible  of 
their  wants,  and  cry  out  for  a  supply.  The  tears 
and  cries  of  the  inhabitants  of  Dublin,  after  the 
manifestation  of  Christ,  are  ever  in  my  view.  If 
they  were  in  the  dark,  and  loved  to  have  it  so, 
it  might  something  close  a  door  upon  the  bowels 
of  our  compassion  j  but  they  cry  out  of  their  dark- 
ness, and  are  ready  to  follow  every  one  whosoever 
to  have  a  candle.     If  their  being  gospelless  move 


118       DUBLIN   AT   THE   COMMONWEALTH, 

not  our  hearts,  it  is  hoped  their  importunate  cries 
will  disquiet  our  rest,  and  wrest  help  as  a  beggar 
doth  amis,"  etc. 

These  appeals  from  Owen  to  the  parliament 
told  better  for  Ireland  than  did  Lord  Bacon's 
advice  to  Queen  Elizabeth's  secretary,  half  a  cen- 
tury before.  In  the  month  after  they  were  uttered, 
a  bill  was  passed  for  vesting  certain  estates  in  the 
•hands  of  trustees  for  the  better  support  of  Trinity 
College,  the  erection  of  a  second  college,  the  sup- 
port of  professors  in  the  university,  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  free-school;  and  on  the  same  day 
the  House  resolved  to  "  send  over  forthwith  six 
able  ministers  to  dispense  the  gospel  in  the  city 
of  Dublin." 

Perhaps  it  is  to  the  college  and  free-school 
whose  erection  was  provided  for  by  the  above  bill, 
or  to  that  college  and  the  one  previously  existing 
in  Back  lane,  which  had  been  taken  from  the 
Roman  Catholics  and  connected  with  the  univer- 
sity, that  Fuller  refers  when  he  writes,  "The 
whole  species  of  the  university  of  Dublin  was  for 
many  years  preserved  in  the  individuum  of  this 
one  college  [Trinity].  But,  since,  this  instrument 
hath  made  better  music,  when  what  was  but  a 
monochord  before  hath  got  two  other  smaller 
strings  unto  it — the  addition  of  New  College  and 
Kildare  Hall."  Among  the  ministers  sent  over 
pursuant  to  the  parliament's  resolve  was  John 
Rogers,  a  man  of  much  learning,  exuberant  fancy, 
and  ardent  piety,  all  apparent  in  his  singular  quarto 
entitled  "A  Tabernacle  for  the  Sun." 

Commissioners  came  from  the  parliament   to 


THE    RESTORATION   AND   REVOLUTION.    119 

administer  the  affairs  of  Ireland,  in  1651,  and 
resided  in  Cork  House.  They  were  accompanied 
by  the  Reverend  Samuel  Winter,  previously  mi- 
nister of  Cottingham,  in  Yorkshire,  whom  they 
made  provost  of  the  College,  which  office  he  held 
till  the  Restoration.  Calamy  states  that  Winter 
relinquished  a  living  of  £400  a  year  in  England, 
for  a  salary  of  £100,  that  he  might  promote  the 
gospel  in  Ireland  j  also  that  Trinity  College,  which 
he  found  almost  desolate,  became  under  his  care 
a  valuable  seminary  of  piety  and  learning.  He 
was  most  indefatigable  :  besides  presiding  over 
the  college,  he  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  the  city, 
afternoon  preacher  at  Christ  Church,  the  principal 
service,  had  a  sermon  every  Sunday  morning  in 
St.  Nicholas's  at  seven  o'clock,  and  preached  oc- 
sionally  at  Maynooth. 

Many  other  ministers  settled  in  Dublin  during 
the  Commonwealth,  of  whom  the  best  known  are 
Dr.  Harrison,  Stephen  Charnock,  author  of  the 
treatise  on  the  "Divine  Attributes,"  Samuel 
Mather,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  a  work  on 
the  "  Types,"  being  a  collection  of  discourses  de- 
livered in  Dublin  after  the  Restoration,  and  John 
Murcot,  a  young  man  of  great  promise,  and  whose 
ministry  seems  to  have  been  attended  with  signal 
power  for  usefulness  in  the  city  and  other  parts. 
From  Murcot* s  Life,  called  "Moses  in  the  Mount/'" 
in  a  posthumous  volume  of  his  works,  we  learn 
that  people  of  the  highest  rank,  as  well  as  the 
public  generally,  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  that 
both  in  the  pulpit  and  in  private  he  proved  him- 
self to  be  most  earnest  for  the  honor  of  God  and 


120        DUBLIN   AT   THE    COMMONWEALTH, 

the  good  of  souls.  Dr.  Winter,  with,  whom  he 
was  colleague  in  the  ministry,  in  an  Epistle  De- 
dicatory to  the  Lord  Deputy  Fleetwood  and  the 
Lord  Henry  Cromwell,  prefixed  to  the  above 
volume,  says  of  him,  "  his  praise  is  in  the  gospel 
throughout  all  the  churches :  I  have  seldom 
known  of  his  years  a  head  better  hearted,  or  a 
heart  better  headed;  the  enlargement  of  whose 
heart  was  the  enlargement  of  his  abilities."  He 
died  in  December,  1654,  not  having  completed 
his  thirtieth  year,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Mary's 
chapel,  Christ  Church :  his  funeral  was  attended 
by  the  lord  deputy,  his  commissioners,  the  mayor, 
aldermen,  and  great  numbers  of  the  citizens, 

Most  persons  are  aware  how  nobly  Oliver  Crom- 
well espoused  the  cause  of  the  persecuted  Pro- 
testants in  Piedmont.  In  July,  1655,  a  collection 
towards  their  relief  was  begun  in  Dublin,  and  in 
January  the  sum  of  £1,097  Qs.  od.  was  remitted 
for  the  purpose  by  parties  belonging  to  Dr.  Win- 
ter's church. 

About  the  time  we  are  now  speaking  of,  asso- 
ciations by  mutual  agreement  for  common  purposes 
were  being  formed  in  several  parts  of  England, 
among  the  ministers  of  different  denominations. 
The  celebrated  Richard  Baxter  was  zealous  in 
promoting  them.  Archbishop  Usher  approved  of 
them.  In  their  meetings  one  of  the  ministers 
presided  as  "moderator."  Baxter,  in  his  Life, 
writes  that  "the  Independent  churches  also  in 
Ireland,  led  on  by  Dr.  Winter,  pastor  of  their 
church  in  Dublin,  associated  with  the  moderate 
Presbyterians    there,  upon    these    provocations, 


THE  RESTORATION   AND   REVOLUTION.    121 

and  the  persuasions  of  Colonel  John  Bridges." 
He  gives  a  letter  signed  by  Winter  and  other 
ministers,  "  In  the  name  of  the  associated  churches 
of  Christ  in  Ireland.  These  for  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Richard  Baxter,  pastor  of  the  church  of 
Christ  in  Kidderminster,  to  be  by  him  communi- 
cated to  the  several  churches  of  that  association." 
The  letter  is  dated  July  5th,  1655,  and  breathes 
genuine  Christian  catholicity  :  "  The  present  con- 
dition of  God's  people  in  foreign  parts,  as  among 
us,"  say  the  writers,  "  calls  aloud  for  a  more  cor- 
dial union  and  communion  among  all  such  who 
desire  to  fear  His  name.  It  is  therefore  our  hearts' 
desire,  not  to  be  wanting  in  our  faith  and  prayers, 
resolves  and  endeavors,  to  the  fulfilling  of  those 
exceeding  great  and  precious  truths  which  do 
eminently  centre  in  these  latter  days,  that  Christ's 
friends  may  receive  one  mind  and  heart,  to  serve 
him  with  one  lip  and  shoulder.  We  are  thereby 
much  encouraged  to  request  your  Christian  assist- 
ance and  brotherly  correspondency,  that  we  may 
all  be  the  better  able,  in  our  several  stations  and 
relations,  to  promote  more  vigorously  the  interest 
of  Christ  and  his  people.  After  the  sad  shakings 
of  this  land,  and  his  many  turnings  of  things  up- 
side down,  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  promise  us  a 
little  reviving,  and  to  open  a  door  of  hope,  even 
in  the  valley  of  Achor.  Your  favorable  help  is 
therefore  earnestly  craved,  that  Ireland  may  once 
more  partake  of  the  glad  tidings  of  heaven,  and 
the  wants  of  many  thousand  starving  souls  may 
be  seasonably  supplied  with  the  bread  of  life." 
To  the   letter  from  which  these   sentences  are 


122       DUBLIN   AT   THE   COMMONWEALTH, 

taken,  Baxter  and  four  other  ministers  sent  a  long 
and  cordial  response,  "  In  the  name  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Ministers  meeting  at  Kidderminster,  August 
12th,  1655/^  inscribed,  "to  the  Reverend  our 
much-honored  Brother  Dr.  "Winter,  Pastor  of  the 
Church  of  Dublin,  to  be  communicated  by  him 
to  the  associated  churches  in  Ireland :  These." 
Under  date  of  "Dublin,  January  16th,  1655-6," 
a  letter  was  sent  to  Baxter  and  his  brethren, 
signed  by  Dr.  Winter  and  five  "  Elders  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  Dublin,  whereof  Dr.  Samuel 
Winter  is  Pastor,"  "In  the  name  and  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  rest  of  the  associated  churches 
in  Ireland." 

Henry  Cromwell  was  lord  deputy  at  the  time 
this  correspondence  was  going  on.  He  was  a 
truly  Christian  man,  and  did  much  to  promote 
the  gospel  in  the  country,  and  union  between  the 
followers  of  his  and  their  Lord.  At  his  invita- 
tion, a  meeting  of  the  principal  ministers  of  differ- 
ent denominations,  and  from  the  several  provinces 
of  the  country,  was  held  in  Dublin  <n  April, 
1648.  About  thirty  were  present,  including  three 
Presbyterians  from  the  north  of  Ireland.  "  He 
requested  their  advice  respecting  the  instruction 
and  conversion  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population, 
the  promoting  of  peace  and  unity  among  all  godly 
ministers  though  of  different  churches,  the  due 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  suppression 
of  heresy  and  profaneness."  They  remained  for 
five  weeks  together,  gave  Henry  their  opinions 
on  the  topics  he  had  proposed,  presented  to  him 
an  address,  and  then  "returned  to  their  respect- 


THE   RESTORATION   AND   REVOLUTION.    123 

ive  homes,  with  much  love,  having,  during  the 
time  of  their  being  together,  kept  a  good  under- 
standing and  mutual  respect  and  kindness  towards 
one  another. " 

The  information  we  have  of  secular  matters  in 
Dublin,  from  Cromwell's  arrival  to  the  Restoration, 
is  extremely  meagre.  Colonel  Hewson  was,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  time,  governor  of  the  city, 
and  General  Fleetwood  lord  deputy.  In  1652,  a 
court  of  justice  was  erected  for  the  trial  of  per- 
sons concerned  in  the  "  barbarous  murders"  com- 
mitted in  the  rebellion,  and  Sir  Phelim  O'Ncil 
and  others  were  condemned  and  executed.  The 
city  was  tranquil  and  prosperous.  Provision  was 
made  for  victualling  the  government  vessels  as 
they  lay  near  the  city,  the  absence  of  which  con- 
venience had  obliged  them  before  to  go  elsewhere 
for  supplies.  A  weekly  postal  communicaHon 
was  established  with  England,  by  packet  to  Holy- 
head. 

Oliver  Cromwell  died  early  in  September, 
1658  :  his  eldest  son,  Richard,  succeeded  him  as 
protector,  and  was  proclaimed  in  Dublin  on  the 
10th.  Henry  was  appointed  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland  by  his  brother  Richard.  "  The  kingdom 
continued  to  enjoy  unusual  tranquillity,  and  in 
no  part  of  the  empire  did  there  exist  a  more  cor- 
dial or  general  submission  to  the  new  protector." 
But  Richard  was  unequal  to  his  high  and  difficult 
position.  He  summoned  a  parliament  in  January, 
1658-9,  which  he  dissolved  in  April.  The  army 
induced  him  to  resign.  The  remains  of  Oliver's 
last  parliament  assembled  :    the  government  of 


124       DUBLIN   AT   THE   COMMONWEALTH, 

Ireland  was  vested  in  commissioners,  but  Henry, 
anticipating  his  recall  by  the  parliament,  sent  his 
resignation  to  the  speaker,  and  retired  from  pub- 
lic life:  Ranin  gives  it  as  the  general  opinion, 
that  had  Henry  been  made  protector  instead  of 
Richard,  the  course  of  events  afterwards  would 
have  been  widely  different  from  what  it  was. 
Early  in  May,  four  commissioners  came  from  the 
parliament  to  Dublin,  and  continued  undisturbed 
in  power  till  January,  1659-60,  *when  a  party  of 
general  officers  seized  the  castle,  declared  for  a 
free  parliament,  and,  upon  petition  from  the  mayor 
and  aldermen  of  the  city,  summoned  a  convention 
which  met  in  February. 

While  matters  were  going  on  thus  in  Dublin, 
measures  were  being  taken  in  England  which 
ended  in  an  agreement  that  Charles  II.  should 
take  the  throne  of  Britain.  He  had,  years  be- 
fore, sworn  to  the  solemn  league  and  covenant, 
and  been  crowned  at  Scone  :  he  now  promised  all 
manner  of  good  things  as  he  thought  might  be 
agreeable  to  the  parties  who  went  to  negotiate 
with  him  at  Breda.  On  14th  May,  1660,  his 
declaration  was  accepted  by  the  convention  in 
Dublin,  and  the  authorities  there  concurred  in 
his  restoration.  Soon  afterwards,  Sir  Hardress 
"Waller  with  his  troops  seized  the  castle  for  the 
parliament,  but  was  obliged  to  surrender  it  after 
a  siege  of  five  days.  By  the  close  of  the  year, 
the  "  Restoration' '  was  accomplished  j  lords  jus- 
tices were  sworn  in  to  administer  the  king's  go- 
vernment in  Ireland ;  and  the  Duke  of  Ormond 
came  over  as  lord  lieutenant  the  following  year. 


THE   RESTORATION   AND   REVOLUTION.    125 

The  ecclesiastical  arrangements  of  Ireland  now 
reverted  to  the  position  in  which  they  were  be- 
fore the  English  parliament  acquired  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  country.  Bramhall  was  appointed 
to  the  primacy,  and  six  new  bishops  were  con- 
secrated for  vacant  sees.  Nonconformists  were 
ejected  from  the  churches  and  the  college,  without 
waiting,  as  in  England,  for  a  new  Act  of  Uni- 
formity. 

The  college  was  a  gainer  by  the  Restoration. 
Archbishop  Usher  had  died  in  1655  :  his  library, 
containing  ten  thousand  volumes,  which  had  cost 
him  many  thousand  pounds,  was,  together  with 
his  collection  of  manuscripts,  then  offered  for  sale. 
The  King  of  Denmark  and  Cardinal  Mazarin 
sought  to  purchase  it ;  but  the  officers  and  men 
of  the  parliamentary  army  in  Ireland,  nobly  re- 
solving that  so  great  a  treasure  should  not  leave 
the  country,  raised  among  themselves  the  money 
requisite  to  secure  it,  and  then  freely  assigned  it 
for  the  new  college  which  had  been  projected  in 
the  city.  It  was  placed  in  the  castle  for  safe 
custody.  When  Charles  came  to  the  throne,  he 
made  a  present  of  it  to  Trinity  College,  and  over 
the  compartments  which  it  occupies  in  the  library, 
his  royal  munificence  is  commemorated  by  the  fol- 
lowing inscription :  "Bibliotheca  Usseriana  Ex 
Dono  Sercnissimi  Regis  Caroli  Secundi."  Dr. 
Parr  states  fliat  this  contribution  then  made  up 
the  greater  part  of  the  college  library. 

During  the  year  1662,  some  of  the  noncon- 
formist ministers  who  had  formally  resided  in  the 
city  returned  and  regathered  their  congregations. 


126       DUBLIN   AT   THE   COMMONWEALTH, 

Of  these  were  Samuel  Mather  and  Dr.  Harrison. 
The  church  of  the  former  met  in  New  Row,  the 
other  in  Cooke  street.  A  third  congregation  was 
formed  in  Wood  street. 

Among  the  occurrences  of  the  city  about  this 
period,  mentioned  in  its  annals,  are  the  gift  of  a  col- 
lar of  SS.  to  its  chief  magistrate  by  the  king,  in  1660, 
together  with  a  foot  company  to  protect  his  per- 
son and  sustain  his  dignity.  This  was  followed 
in  1665  by  the  title  of  "Lord  Mayor/'  and  £500  a 
year  in  lieu  of  the  foot  company.  In  October,1666, 
the  lord  lieutenant  and  the  council  "considered 
about  sending  105,000  bullocks  for  the  relief  of 
London,  lately  burnt;"  but  whether  they  did  the 
generous  deed  is  not  explained.  The  next  year, 
through  an  apprehension  of  invasion  from  France, 
the  militia  were  enrolled ;  and  that  year  was  fur- 
ther remarkable  for  the  birth  of  the  celebrated 
Dean  Swift,  in  Hoey's  court,  near  the  castle,  the 
houses  in  which  were  then  handsome  residences, 
though  now  in  extreme  dilapidation.  In  1670, 
"  in  consequence  of  a  great  storm  at  new  moon, 
the  river  overflowed  up  to  Lazar's  Hill,  now 
Brunswick  street,  and  the  college."  St.  Ste- 
phen's Green  was  enclosed  and  drained,  and  a 
double  row  of  lime  trees  planted  along  the  wall. 
New  pipes  were  laid  for  supplying  the  city  with 
water.  Bells  were  hung  in  St.  Patrick's,  Christ 
Church,  and  St.  Catharine's.  Essex  bridge  was 
erected  in  1676. 

Not  long  subsequent  to  the  Restoration,  the 
leaders  of  the  Roman  Catholics  were  on  the  alert 
to  engage  the  king  to  fulfil  the  stipulations  made 


THE   RESTORATION   AND    REVOLUTION.    127 

to  them  in  the  peace  concluded  between  his  fa- 
ther and  the  confederates,  in  1648-9.  A  toleration 
was  in  consequence  granted  them,  but  not  to  the 
extent  desired.  Shortly  after  this,  the  plot  of  Titus 
Oates,  in  England,  created  alarm  in  Ireland. 
Stringent  courses  were  taken  by  the  authorities 
against  the  "papists."  All  Koman  Catholic 
ecclesiastics  were  ordered  to  quit  the  country,  and 
no  person  of  their  persuasion  was  allowed  to  enter 
the  castle.  The  titular  archbishop  of  Dublin  was 
thrown  into  prison.  Proclamation  was  made  to 
seize  and  confine  the  relations  of  "  Tories,"  till 
the  principals  were  killed  or  apprehended  j  also 
to  incarcerate  the  parish  priest  on  occasions  when 
a  robbery  had  been  committed. 

Charles  II.  died  on  February  6th,  1684  :  James 
II.  was  proclaimed  in  Dublin  on  the  11th.  In 
the  same  year,  "  the  Royal  Hospital  of  Kilmain- 
hatn,  at  the  west  end  of  Dublin,  was  built  at  the 
charge  of  the  army,  being  a  very  spacious,  state- 
ly, and  commodious  building,  for  aged  and  maimed 
soldiers,  who  are  here  well  maintained/'  says  Har- 
ris, "to  the  number  of  about  four  hundred." 
Ormond  and  Arran  bridges  were  also  erected. 

In  January,  1685,  the  Earl  of  Clarendon  suc- 
ceeded the  Duke  of  Ormond  as  lord  lieutenant, 
and  having  held  office  twelve  months,  was  super- 
seded by  the  Earl  of  Tyrconnel.  This  nobleman 
had  already,  while  having  command  of  the  troops 
as  lieutenant  general,  made  the  army,  as  for  as 
possible,  Iioman  Catholic ;  and  now  proceeded 
more  thoroughly  to  fulfil  his  royal  master's  will, 
and  to  promote  the  interests  of  his  Church,  in 


128       DUBLIN   AT   THE   COMMONWEALTH, 

the  exercise  of  his  new  powers.  But  he  had  one 
aim  which  he  did  not  dare  to  avow.  He  secretly 
negotiated  for  separating  Ireland  from  the  British 
crown,  and  placing  it  under  the  protectorate  of 
France.  Protestants  were  removed  from  the 
highest  law  offices,  and  Roman  Catholics  appoint- 
ed in  their  room.  The  municipal  corporations  were 
cajoled,  on  various  pretexts  and  promises,  to  give 
up  their  charters,  in  order  to  new  ones  being 
granted,  and  if  they  objected,  were  pursued  with 
a  quo  warranto.  By  this  means,  the  local  civil 
authorities  throughout  the  country  became  Roman 
Catholic.  Large  provisions  were  made  for  the 
Roman  Catholic  prelates;  and  dispensations  were 
granted  to  Protestant  Episcopal  ministers  who 
embraced  Romanism,  to  retain  their  benefices, 
notwithstanding  their  apostasy,  of  which  a  signal 
instance  occurred  in  Peter  Manby,  the  dean  of 
Deny.  In  April,  1687,  came  out  James's  "  De- 
claration of  Liberty  of  Conscience,"  by  his  sole 
prerogative  suspending  the  execution  of  the  penal 
laws  against  Roman  Catholics  and  Dissenters.  It 
extended  to  Ireland,  and  was  met  by  addresses 
of  approval,  thanks,  and  professions  of  loyalty 
from  almost  all  parties  in  the  country;  among 
others,  under  the  head  of  "  Windsor,  June  20," 
the  London  Gazette  mentions  that  "An  Address 
from  the  Presbyterian  ministers  and  the  congre- 
gations in  and  near  the  city  of  Dublin,  was  trans- 
mitted hither  by  his  excellency  the  Earl  of  Tyr- 
connel,  lord  deputy  of  Ireland;  with  another 
address  presented  to  his  excellency  on  the  same 
subject  by  those  of  the  Congregational  persuasion, 


THE   RESTORATION   AND   REVOLUTION.    129 

in  behalf  of  themselves  and  others  meeting  in 
New  Row,  in  Dublin;  both  which  were  very 
graciously  received  by  his  majesty/'  And  in  a 
July  Gazette  is  recorded  an  address  from  his 
majesty's  "  Dissenting  subjects  in  Minister,"  and 
another  from  the  "Presbyterian  ministers  of 
Ulster."  In  fact,  that  official  organ,  number 
after  number,  so  teemed  with  announcements  of 
these  effusions,  that  one  might  suppose  there  was 
hardly  a  difference  of  opinion  in  the  country  on 
the  subject  to  which  they  referred. 

Now  came  the  memorable  year  1688.  The 
reader  is  referred  to  histories  of  Eugland  for  de- 
tails of  the  measures  which  ended  in  the  substi- 
tution of  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  for  his; 
father-in-law,  James  II.,  on  the  throne  of  these 
realms — an  issue  that  secured  much  of  what  had 
been  struggled  for,  but  not  permanently  obtained, 
thirty  years  before.  It  is  said  that  Tyrconnel  had 
private  knowledge  of  proceedings  with  William 
before  James  was  acquainted  with  them,  and  that 
James  received  his  earliest  intimation  of  them 
from  his  Irish  lord  deputy.  James  at  first  treat- 
ed the  movement  with  contempt,  but  he  soon  was 
made  to  feel  that  it  was  a  substantive  and  strong 
reality,  before  which  he  and  his  principles  had  to 
quail. 

William  arrived  at  Torbay  on  the  4th  of  No- 
vember, and,  before  the  end  of  December,  James 
left  the  kingdom  and  retired  to  France.  A  con- 
vention of  the  lords  and  commons  of  England 
adjudged  that  he  had,  ipso  facto,  abdicated  the 
throne,  which  they  then  offered  to  William,  Prince 
5 


130       DUBLIN 

of  Orange,  and  his  princess  Mary,  James's  daugh- 
ter. The  offer  was  accepted.  Ireland  had  no 
share  in  that  transaction  :  Tyrconnel  held  that 
country  for  James.  While  the  English  conven- 
tion were  presenting  the  crown  to  William  and 
Mary,  Tyrconnel  was  disarming  all  the  Protestants 
of  Dublin  and  other  places  over  which  his  power 
extended.  The  churches  of  the  city  were  made 
depots :  Trinity  College  was  converted  into  a 
barrack.  Sir  Thomas  Hacket,  the  lord  mayor, 
Colonel  Lutrel,  the  governor  of  Dublin,  and  the 
lord  chief  justice  Nugent,  emulated  the  lord  lieu- 
tenant in  zeal  against  the  Protestants.  On  the 
12th  of  March,  King  James  landed  at  Kinsale, 
reached  Dublin  on  the  24th,  and  called  a  parlia- 
ment, which  sat  till  July  20th.  Among  other 
doings,  it  repealed  the  Act  of  Settlement,  and 
passed  an  Act  of  Attainder  against  two  thousand 
six  hundred  Protestants.  King,  dean  of  St. 
Patrick's  and  locum  tenens  of  the  archbishop, 
then  absent,  was  repeatedly  imprisoned,  and  in 
great  danger  through  his  steadfastness,  when  the 
Protestants  were  proscribed. 

To  provide  for  his  necessities  James  established 
a  mint  in  Dublin,  for  coining  money  out  of  the 
worst  kind  of  brass,  old  guns,  and  other  refuse 
metal,  melted  down  together.  The  mass  was 
worth  from  threepence  to  fourpence  a  pound- 
weight;  and  by  proclamation,  dated  June  18fch, 
this  money  was  made  current,  twenty  shillings  of 
it  not  being  worth  more  than  twopence.  Of  this 
base  coin  nearly  390,000  pound*  weight  were 
struck  and  made  to  pass  for  the  value  of  nearly 


THE   RESTORATION   AND    REVOLUTION.    131 

1,600,000  pounds  sterling,  in  what  were  called 
half-crowns,  shillings,  and  sixpences.  In  this 
money  the  troops  were  paid,  and  all  business 
transacted.  A  coinage  of  pewter  was  prepared 
the  next  year,  but  the  final  defeat  of  James  pre- 
vented its  being  issued^ 

Ou  the  3d  May,  1690,  Lutrel,  governor  of  Dub- 
lin, issued  an  order  commanding  all  ministers  and 
curates  of  the  several  parishes  in  the  city  and 
liberties  to  send  in  the  names  of  all  male  Protest- 
ants and  Dissenters  in  the  several  parishes,  by 
the  following  Thursday,  under  pain  of  being 
treated  as  spies  or  enemies.  On  the  18th,  he  is- 
sued another,  requiring  all  Protestants  who  were 
not  housekeepers,  or  who  had  not  followed  some 
lawful  vocation  for  three  months  before,  to  de- 
part within  twenty-four  hours,  under  pain  of 
death  or  imprisonment;  and  all  Protestants  not 
of  the  pwvy  council,  nor  in  the  king's  army  or 
actual  service,  to  deliver  up  within  the  said  time 
their  arms  and  ammunition  into  the  stores,  on  pain 
of  death.  He  further  ordered  that  no  Protestant 
presume  to  walk  the  streets  from  ten  o'clock  at 
night  till  five  in  the  morning,  nor  at  any  time 
during  an  alarm  ;  and  that  no  greater  number 
of  them  than  five  should  meet  and  converse  at 
any  time,  either  in  houses,  streets,  or  fields,  under 
pain  of  death,  or  such  punishment  as  a  court- 
martial  should  think  fit.  He  also  made  disobe- 
dience to  many  of  his  verbal  orders  death.  But 
deliver;i nee  was  at  hand. 

On  the  day  before  the  last-named  edict  was  is- 
sued, King  William  landed  at  Carrickfergus,  near 


132       DUBLIN   AT    THE    COMMONWEALTH, 

Belfast.  Some  of  his  officers  suggested  the  pro- 
priety of  remaining  for  some  time  in  that  neigh- 
borhood, but  he  said,  with  a  degree  of  warm  re- 
solve, "I  came  not  to  Ireland  to  let  the  grass 
grow  under  my  feet."  He  at  once  marched 
southward.  On  Tuesday,  July  1,  he  routed 
James's  army  in  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  and 
the  next  day  took  possession  of  Drogheda.  James 
hastened  to  Dublin  after  the  battle,  called  to- 
gether the  council  and  magistrates,  and  gave  them 
a  farewell  address,  representing  that  his  Irish 
troops  were  not  to  be  depended  on,  that  fortune 
was  against  him,  and  that  he  should  ■  now  shift 
for  himself,  as  they  also  must  do.  He  charged 
them  not  to  burn  or  pillage  the  city, -and  con- 
cluded by  promising  to  labor  for  their  deliverance 
as  long  as  he  lived.  The  next  morning  he  left, 
accompanied  by  the  Dukes  of  Berwick  and  Tyr- 
connel  and  the  Marquis  of  Powis,  for  Waterford, 
whence  he  embarked  for  France.  On  his  depart- 
ure, the  principal  Roman  Catholics  fled  from 
Dublin  ;  the  Protestants  possessed  themselves  of 
the  militia  arms,  formed  a  committee  of  man- 
agement, despatched  letters  to  King  William  with 
an  account  of  what  had  transpired,  and  invited 
his  presence  in  the  metropolis.  On  Saturday 
the  5th,  William  encamped  at  Finglass,  and  the 
next  day,  Sunday,  he  "  rode,"  says  Rapin,  "  in  a 
triumphant  manner  into  Dublin,  and  went  directly 
to  St.  Patrick's  Church,  the  cathedral  of  that 
metropolis,  attended  by  the  bishops  of  Meath 
and  Limerick  j  and  after  the  public  services  were 
solemnly  performed,  Dr.  King,  afterwards  arch- 


THE   RESTORATION    AND   REVOLUTION.    183 

bishop  of  Dublin,  preached  a  sermon  upon  the 
power  and  wisdom  of  the  providence  of  God,  in 
protecting  his  people,  and  defeating  their  enemies. 
The  major  and  aldermen  waited  on  his  majesty; 
and  the  people  endeavored,  by  all  demonstrations 
of  joy,  to  express  their  just  sense  of  their  great 
and  happy  deliverance.  In  the  afternoon,  the 
king  returned  to  the  camp."  On  the  Monday, 
he  published  a  royal  declaration,  promising  par- 
don and  protection  to  all  who  returned  and  sub- 
mitted, excepting  the  leaders  in  the  outrages  that 
had  been  perpetrated,  and  even  holding  out  hope 
to  them  by  an  assurance  that  he  would  never  re- 
fuse mercy  to  those  who  were  truly  penitent.  On 
Wednesday,  July  9th,  the  king  removed  the 
greater  part  of  his  army  to  Crumlin,  two  miles 
south  of  the  city,  and  despatched  the  remainder 
of  his  forces  towards  Athlone.  On  the  next  day, 
he  issued  a  proclamation,  annulling  that  of  James 
respecting  the  base  money,  and  reducing  its  cur- 
rent value  to  its  real  worth.  Having  appointed 
brigadier  Trelawny  to  the  command  in  Dublin, 
William  advanced  as  far  as  Inchiquin,  twenty- 
two  miles  on  his  way  to  Kilkenny.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  month,  he  came  back  from  Carriek- 
on-Suir  to  Dublin,  and  stayed  at  Chapel-Izod 
some  days,  hearing  complaints  and  redressing 
grievances.  He  rejoined  the  army  on  the  4th  of 
August,  and,  having  besieged  Limerick,  he  ap- 
pointed lords  justices,  and  jailed  for  England 
from  Duncannon  Fort,  about  the  1st  of  Septem- 
ber. 

Tbe  next  year's  campaign  brought  the  war  in 


134     DUBLIN  AT  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Ireland  to  a  close.  The  city  of  Dublin,  "in  grate- 
ful commemoration  of  their  late  deliverance  by 
the  conduct  and  valor  of  King  William  III., 
erected  his  statue  on  horseback,"  in  College 
Green,  bearing  a  Latin  inscription.  It  was  in- 
augurated with  great  solemnity,  on  July  the  1st, 
1701,  being  the  anniversary  of  the  victory  of  the 
Boyne. 

Until  the  past  few  years,  this  statue  -was  wont 
to  be  newly  gilt  and  painted  for  the  same  anni- 
versary. Its  new  adorning,  however,  provoked 
assault  and  defence  between  partisans,  contests 
which  frequently  ended  in  bloodshed.  Its  annual 
decoration,  therefore,  has  given  place  to  an  en- 
during coat  of  bronze,  and  it  is  allowed  to  stand 
longer  than  the  twelvemonth  round  in  quietness, 
unharmed  itself,  and  without  offence  being  given 
or  taken  from  it  among  any  of  the  passers  by. 


DUBLIN  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.     135 


SECTION  VI. 

DUBLIN    IN   THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY. 

A  London  bookseller,  who  had  crossed  the 
Atlantic,  and  was  generally  acquainted  with  men 
and  things,  spent  some  time  in  Dublin  about  the 
commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century.  His 
name  was  John  Dunton.  He  has  given  a  pretty 
full  account  of  Trinity  College,  as  then  circum- 
stanced. 

"  It  consists,"  he  writes,  "  of  three  squares,  the 
outward  being  as  large  as  both  the  inner,  one  of 
Which,  of  modern  building,  has  not  chambers  on 
every  side — the  other  has  \  on  the  south  side  of 
which  stands  the  library,  the  whole  length  of  the 
square.  The  hall  and  butteries  run  the  same 
range  with  the  library,  and  separates  the  two 
inner  squares.  It  is  an  old  building ;  as  is  also 
the  Regent  House,  which  from  a  gallery  looks 
into  the  chapel,  which  has  been  of  late  years  en- 
larged, being  before  too  little  for  the  number  of 
scholars,  who  are  now,  with  the  fellows,  etc., 
reckoned  about  three  hundred  and  forty.  They 
have  a  garden  for  the  fellows,  and  another  for  the 
provost,  both  neatly  kept;    as   also  a   bowling- 


136  DUBLIN    IN 

green,  and  large  parks  for  the  students  to  walk 
and  exercise  in.  The  foundation  consists  of  a 
/provost;  seven  senior  fellows,  of  whom  two  are 
doctors. in  divinity;  eight  juniors,  to  whom  one 
is  lately  added;  and  seventy  scholars."  A  new 
house  was  then  building  for  the  provost,  which 
was  to  be  "  very  noble  and  magnificent. "  The 
same  writer  speaks  of  being  shown  "  the  gardens 
belonging  to  the  college,  which  were  very  pleas- 
ant and  entertaining.  Here  was  a  sun-dial,  on 
which  might  be  seen  what  o'clock  it  was  in  most 
parts  of  the  world.  This  dial  was  placed  upon 
the  top  of  a  stone,  representing  a  pile  of  books. 
And  not  far  from  this  was  another  sun-dial,  set  in 
a  box,  of  a  very  large  compass,  the  gnomon  of  it 
being  very  near  as  big  as  a  barber's  pole.  Leav- 
ing this  pleasant  garden,  we  ascended  several 
steps,  which  brought  us  into  a  curious  walk,  where 
we  had  a  prospect  to  the  west  of  the  city,  and  to 
the  east  of  the  sea  and  harbor :  on  the  south  we 
could  see  the  mountains  of  Wicklow,  and  on  the 
north,  the  river  Liifey,  which  runs  by  the  side 
of  the  college."  He  says,  "  the  library  is  over 
the  scholars'  lodgings,  the  length  of  one  of  the 
quadrangles,  and  contains  a  great  many  choice 
books  of  great  value,  particularly  one,  the  largest 
I  ever  saw  for  breadth :  it  was  a  '  Herbal/  con- 
taining the  lively  portraitures  of  all  sorts  of  trees, 
plants,  herbs,  and  flowers/'  There  also  he  saw 
Avhat  seem  to  have  been  the  germs  of  a  museum: 
among  other  curiosities,  "  the  thisrh-boue  of  a 
giant/'  "  kept  there  as  a  convincing  denionstra- 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.      137 

tion  of  the  vast  bigness  which  some  human  bodies 
have  in  former  times  arrived  to."  "At  the  east 
end  of  this  library,  on  the  right  hand,  is  a  cham- 
ber called  the  '  Countess  of  Bath's  Library/  filled 
with  many  handsome  folios  and  other  books,  in 
Dutch  binding,  gilt,  with  the  earl's  arms  im- 
pressed upon  them ;  for  he  had  been  some  time 
in  this  house.  On  the  left  hand,  opposite  to  this 
room,  is  another  chamber,  in  which  1  saw  a  great 
many  manuscripts,  medals,  and  other  curiosities. 
At  the  west  end  of  the  library,  there  is  a  division 
made  by  a  kind  of  wooden  lattice-work,  contain- 
ing about  thirty  paces,  full  of  choice  and  curious 
books,  which  was  the  library  of  that  great  man, 
Archbishop  Usher."  "  The  library,  at  present,  is 
but  an  ordinary  pile  of  building,  and  cannot  be 
distinguished  on  the  outside ;  but  I  hear  they 
design  the  building  of  a  new  library ;  and  I  am 
told  the  House  of  Commons  in  Ireland  have  voted 
three  thousand  pounds  towards  carrying  it  on." 

Dunton  mentions  it  as  customary  to  read  pub- 
licly in  the  chapel  of  the  college,  every  Trinity 
Sunday,  in  the  afternoon,  the  name  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  of  every  other  contributor  to  it 
from  its  foundation,  "  as  a  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment to  the  memory  of  their  benefactors."  He 
then  describes  the  proceedings  which  took  place 
on  the  first  hundredth  anniversary  of  its  opening, 
a  few  years  before  his  visit.  "  On  the  9th  of 
January,  1693,  (which  completed  a  century  from 
the  foundation  of  the  college,)  they  celebrated 
their  first  secular  day,  when  the  provost,  Dr.  Ashe, 
now  Bishop  of  Clogher,  preached,  and  made  a 


Id  5  DUBLIN  IN 

notable  entertainment  for  the  lords  justices,  lord 
mayor,  and  aldermen  of  Dublin.  The  sermon 
preached  by  the  provost  was  on  the  subject  of  the 
foundation  of  the  college;  and  his  text  was,  Matt, 
xxvi.  13,  l  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Wheresoever 
this  gospel  shall  be  preached  in  the  whole  world, 
there  shall  also  this,  that  this  woman  hath  done, 
be  told  for  a  memorial  of  her : '  which  in  this 
sermon  the  provost  applied  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
the  foundress  of  the  college.  The  sermon  was 
learned  and  ingenious,  and  afterwards  printed  by 
Mr.  Eay,  and  dedicated  to  the  lords  justices.  In 
the  afternoon,  there  were  several  orations  in  Latin, 
spoke  by  the  scholars,  in  praise  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth and  the  succeeding  princes;  and  an  ode 
made  by  Mr.  Tate,  (the  Poet  Laureate,)  who  was 
bred  up  in  this  college.  Part  of  the  ode  was  this 
following : — 

Great  parent,  hail !  all  hail  to  thee  ; 

Who  hast  the  last  distress  survived, 
To  see  this  joyful  day  arrived, 

The  Muses'  second  jubilee. 

Another  century  commencing, 
No  decay  in  thee  can  trace : 

Time,  with  his  own  law  dispensing, 
Adds  new  charms  to  every  grace 
That  adorns  thy  youthful  face. 

After  war's  alarms  repeated, 
And  a  circling  age  completed, 

Numerous  offspring  thou  dost  raise, 

Such  as  to  Juverna's  praise 
Shall  Liffey  make  as  proud  a  name 
As  that  of  Isis  or  of  Cam. 


THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  139 

Awful  matron,  take  thy  seat 
To  celebrate  this  festival : 
The  learn'd  assembly  .well  to  treat, 
Bless'd  Eliza's  days  recall : 

The  wonders  of  her  reign  recount, 
In  strains  that  Phoebus  may  surmount, 
Songs  for  Phoebus  to  repeat. 

She  'twas* that  did  at  first  inspire, 
And  tune  the  mute  Hibernian  lyre. 

Succeeding  princes  nest  recite  : 
With  never-dying  verse  requite 

Those  favors  they  did  shower. 
'Tis  this  alone  can  do  them  right : 
To  save  them  from  oblivion's  night, 

Is  only  in  the  Muse's  power. 

But  chiefly  recommend  to  Fame, 
Maria  and  great  William's  name, 

Whose  isle  to  him  her  freedom  owes ; 
And  surely  no  Hibernian  Muse 
Can  her  restorer's  praise  refuse, 

While  Boyne  or  Shannon  flows. 


"After  this  ode  had  been  sung  by  the  principal 
gentlemen  of  the  kingdom,  there  was  a  very  di- 
verting speech  made  in  English  by  the  Terrce 
Filius.  The  night  concluded  with  illuminations, 
not  only  in  the  college,  but  in  other  places." 

Thus  was  celebrated  the  "first  secular  day/'  or 
hundredth  anniversary,  of  the  Dublin  University. 
The  same  informant,  speaking  of  the  viceregal 
court,  says  of  the  lords  justices,  "  When  they,  go 
to  church,  the  streets,  from  the  castle  gate  to  the 
church  door,  as  also  the  great  aisle  of  the  church, 
to  the  foot  of  the  stairs  by  which  they  ascend  to 
the  place  where  they  sit,  are  lined  with  soldiers. 


140  DUBLIN   IK 

They  are  preceded  by  the  pursuivants  of  the 
council-chamber,  two  maces,  and,  on  state-days, 
by  the  king  and  pursuivant-at-arins,  their  chap- 
lains, and  gentlemen  of  the  household,  with  pages 
and  footmen  bareheaded.  When  they  alight  from 
their  coach,  in  which  commonly  the  lord  chancel- 
lor and  one  of  the  prime  nobility  sit  with  them, 
the  sword  of  state  is  delivered  to  some  lord  to 
Carry  before  them.  And  in  the  like  manner  they 
return  back  to  the  castle,  where  the  seyeral  courses 
at  dinner  are  ushered  in  by  kettle-drums  and 
trumpets." 

Upon  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
many  French  Protestants  came  over  to  Ireland. 
Their  numbers  were  increased  by  the  officers  an/l 
men  of  a  Huguenot  regiment  which  served  under 
William  III.,  and,  on  being  disbanded,  remained 
in  the  country.  Their  principal  location  was 
Portarlington,  in  the  Queen's  county,  where  they 
formed  so  large  and  influential  a  proportion  of  the 
inhabitants,  that  French  became  the  common  lan- 
guage of  the  place.  Not  a  few  of  them,  however, 
settled  in  the  metropolis,  and  proved  an  important 
accession  to  its  general  intelligence,  refinement, 
industry,  and  moral  worth.  The  names  of  French 
street,  Digges  street,  Aungier  street,  etc.,  tell  their 
origin,  and  those  of  La  Touche  and  other  respect- 
able families  indicate  their  descent.  These  refu- 
gees, in  1695,  formed  three  congregations  :  two 
of  them  Calvinistic,  who  worshipped  in  Peter 
street  and  Lucas  lane,  and  the  other,  consisting 
of  persons  who  preferred  a  liturgical  service,  had 
the  use  of  a  chapel  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.    A 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.      lit 

German  regiment  had  also  been  engaged  in  Ire- 
land under  William.  On  the  war  of  the  revolu- 
tion being  ended,  this  corps  went  to  the  continent, 
but  when  it  was  disbanded  at  the  peace  of  Rys- 
wick,  portions  belonging  to  it  came  over  to  Dublin 
with  their  chaplain,  and  formed  a  German  Lu- 
theran congregation,  which  had  a  place  of  worship 
in  Marlborough  street.  The  government  of  that 
period  greatly  encouraged  the  settlement  of  foreign 
Protestants  in  Ireland.  The  Nonconformists  also 
had  obtained  comparative  security  and  freedom. 
Under  the  general  name  of  "  Protestant  Dissent- 
ers/' they  had  in  Dublin  seven  congregations,  four 
Presbyterian,  two  Independent  or  Congregational, 
and  one  Baptist. 

Dr.  Narcissus  Marsh  had  been  Archbishop  of 
Dublin  from  1694  to  1702,  in  which  year  he  was 
translated  to  Armagh.  He  cliedm  1713.  "While 
he  governed  the  Church  in  Dublin,"  writes  Har- 
ris, "he  built  a  noble  library,  near  the  palace  of 
St.  Sepulchre's,  which  he  enlarged  after  his  trans- 
lation to  Armagh,  and  filled  it  with  a  choice  col- 
lection of  books,  having  for  that  purpose  bought 
the  library  of  Doctor  Edward  Stillingfleet,  formerly 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  to  which  he  added  his  own 
collection.  Aud  to  make  it  more  useful  to  the 
public,  he  plentifully  endowed  a  librarian  and 
sub-librarian  to  attend  to  it  at  certain  prescribed 
hours.  It  is  estimated  that,  besides  the  endow- 
ment, which  amounted  to  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  a  year,  he  expended  more  than  four 
thousand  pounds  in  the  building  and  books ;  and 
to   make   every  thing   secure  to  perpetuity,  he 


142  DUBLIN   IN 

obtained  an  act  of  parliament  for  the  settling 
and  preserving  it."  Harris  adds,  "I  am  under 
the  necessity  of  acknowledging,  from  a  long  expe- 
rience, that  this  is  the  only  useful  library  in  the 
kingdom,  being  open  to  all  strangers,  and  at  all 
reasonable  times.'"  This  library  is  chiefly  valuable 
for  works  published  prior  to  its  founder's  death, 
only  ten  pounds  annually  being  available  for  pro- 
viding additions  except  what  are  obtained  by 
donation.  Harris  wrote  in  1739.  Marsh's  libra- 
ry, though  a  most  munificent  boon  to  the  city,  has 
long  ceased  to  be  "  the  only  useful  library  in  the 
kingdom."  It  is  not  at  present  resorted  to  as  it 
once  was,  partly  from  its  locality  and  from  its 
worth  not  being  known,  but  principally  from  other 
libraries  in  the  city,  including  those  of  the  Uni- 
versity and  the  Dublin  Royal  Society,  being  made 
nearly  as  accessible. 

The  reign  of  William  III.,  many  as  were  its 
advantages  to  the  empire,  was  not,  in  all  its  mea- 
sures, an  unmixed  good  to  Ireland.  The  fault, 
however,  lay  with  a  portion  of  his  subjects,  rather 
than  with  the  king  himself,  who  seems  to  have 
acted,  in  the  case  we  are  about  to  allude  to,  more 
from  compulsion  than  from  choice.  In  Henry 
the  Third's  time,  and  afterwards,  the  woollen 
manufactures  of  Ireland  were  much  sought  after 
in  England,  and  were  admitted  there  duty  free. 
Their  excellence  was  such  that  the  Irish  serges 
won  for  themselves  the  epithet  of  "  noble' '  in 
Italy;  and  in  1482,  the  pope's  agent  at  the  Eng- 
lish court  asked  and  obtained,  from  Richard  II., 
permission  to  export  woollen  mantles  from  Irelaud 


THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  143 

for  Ills  own  dominions  on  the  same  terms.  The 
trade  went  on  more  or  less  prospering,  though  of 
course  affected  by  circumstances,  till  the  latter 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  it  began 
to  excite  jealousy  among  parties  engaged  in  the 
same  manufacture  in  England.  The  restoration 
of  quietness  and  confidence  in  Ireland  after  the 
revolution,  induced  a  number  of  English  capital- 
ists to  come  and  establish  themselves  in  that  line 
in  Dublin,  where  labor  was  cheap,  and  other  con- 
ditions existed  advantageous  for  carrying  it  on. 
Several  streets  in  the  "  Liberty/'  and  with  them 
the  "Weaver's  square/'  were  then  built,  and  soon 
became  the  residence  of  much  opulence  and  re- 
spectability. The  success  of  this  enterprise  greatly 
increased  the  umbrage,  and  even  produced  alarm, 
in  interested  parties  on  the  other  side  of  the 
channel.  The  latter  betook  ttieinselves  to  their 
parliament.  Both  the  lords  and  the  commons  of 
England  petitioned  the  king  to  interfere,  and 
check  the  progress  of  the  woollen  trade  in  Ireland. 
He  accordingly  wrote  to  the  lords  justices,  and 
by  governmental  influence  induced  the  Irish  par- 
liament to  impose  a  duty  of  twenty  per  cent,  on 
broadcloth  exported  from  Ireland,  and  of  half 
that  amount  on  serges  and  baize.  This  sudden 
suppression  of  the  Irish  woollen  manufacture  was 
disastrous  to  Dublin  in  the  highest  degree.  Mul- 
titudes were  reduced  to  beggary,  both  in  the  me- 
tropolis and  the  country.  Happily  the  incubus 
then  placed  on  Irish'  industry  has  long  since  been 
removed,  and  the  energy  and  skill  of  both  coun- 
tries may  now,  so  far  as  government  is  concerned, 


114  DUBLIN    IN 

be  put  forth  at  will  in  friendly  competition  on  equal 
terms,  in  any  of  the  world's  markets. 

The  Irish  parliament  having  thus  nearly  de- 
stroyed the  woollen  manufacture  of  their  country, 
sought  to  make  amends  for  the  mischief  by  en- 
couraging that  of  linen.  The  ancient  Irish  were 
so  partial  to  their  linen  as  an  article  for  clothing, 
that,  under  Henry  VIII.,  laws  were  enacted 
limiting  the  quantity  to  seven  yards  for  a  gar- 
ment, in  making  which  thirty  had  previously  been 
employed :  the  reason  of  this  interference  does 
not  appear;  but,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the 
Irish  parliament  at  a  later  period  regarded  the 
"  dress"  of  the  people  as  within  the  province  of 
legislative  cognizance.  Whatever  censure  may 
justly  attach  to  Wentworth,  Earl  of  Strafford,  it 
is  not  to  be  denied  that  he  was  a  great  and  lasting 
benefactor  to  Ireland  in  one  particular.  Observ- 
ing, when  lord  deputy,  of  how  much  advantage 
to  the  country  the  linen  manufacture  might  be- 
come, and  how  well  adapted  the  soil  was  for  the 
growth  of  flax,  he  devoted  thirty  thousand  pounds 
of  his  own  money  to  promote  the  culture  of  the 
plant  and  the  increase  of  the  trade.  By  an  act 
of  the  eighth  year  of  Queen  Anne,  a  board  of 
trustees  was  constituted  with  extensive  powers 
for  advancing  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  linens. 
They  first  rented  a  room  on  Cork  Hill  as  their 
place  of  business ;  but  that  accommodation  being 
soon  too  small,  apartments  were  assigued  them  in 
the  castle.  By  the  year  1719  the  erection  of  a 
"  Linen  Weaver's  Hall  in  or  near  the-  city  of 
Dublin/'  was  resolved  on,  parliament  voting £3000 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.      145 

towards  the  undertaking.  On  the  14th  of  No- 
vember, 1728,  the*  great  linen  hall  at  the  top  of 
Gapel  street  was  opened  by  public  advertisement. 
For  many  years  it  presented  all  the  stir  of  a  first- 
rate  mart*  but,  through  changes  in  mercantile 
intercourse,  it  is  now  deserted  and  pervaded  by 
the  stillness  of  a  sepulchre,  so  far  as  regards  occu- 
pation for  its  original  purpose. 

French  refugees  brought  the  silk  manufacture 
to  London ;  and  to  their  brethren  who  settled  in 
Dublin,  as  already  described,  that  city  owes  its 
"  Spitalfields."  The  progress  of  this  branch  of 
trade  will  be  noticed  hereafter. 

We  have  mentioned  the  birth  of  Swift.  It 
was  in  1713  that  he  became  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's. 
Neither  his  general  conduct  nor  his  writings  were 
always  consistent  with  his  profession  as  a  minister 
of  religion,  yet  he  is  said  to  have  made  some  re- 
forms in  the  chapter  of  his  cathedral,  and  he 
proved  himself  earnest  for  his  country.  In  1720, 
he  acquired  great  popularity  by  publishing  "A 
Proposal  for  the  Universal  Use  of  Irish  Manu- 
factures." That,  however,  was  not  the  chief 
service  he  rendered  to  the  public.  In  the  year 
1722,  the  Duchess  of  Kendal  obtained  through 
Lord  Sunderland  an  exclusive  patent  for' coining 
half-pence  and  farthings  for  Irish  circulation,  to  the 
amount  of  £100,800,  and  then  sold  the  patent  to 
a  person  of  the  name  of  Wood,  at  Wolverhamp- 
ton. Wood,  to  make  the  best  of  his  bargain,  pre- 
pared a  coinage  of  the  basest  metal,  striking  off 
a  few  of  the  standard  value,  as  specimens  for  ap- 


146  DUBLIN    IN 

proval  at  the  Mint  in  London.  The  whole  power 
of  the  government  was  engaged  to  force  the  new 
coinage  on  the  Irish  public.  Archbishop  King 
protested ;  but  Swift  wielded  his  pen,  under  the 
assumed  name  of  M.  B.  Drapier,  with  resistless 
force  against  it,  in  four  letters,  during  the  year 
1724.  The  authorities  offered  a  reward  of 
"three  hundred  pounds"  (the  largest  that  had 
ever  been  offered)  for  the  discovery  of  the  writer, 
but  in  vain.  The  printer  was  seized;  but  the 
grand  jury  ignored  the  bill,  notwithstanding  that 
the  violence  of  a  corrupt  judge  was  exerted  to 
induce  them  to  send  the  case  for  trial.  The  next 
grand  juries  of  Dublin  city  and  county  proscribed 
all  such  persons  as  should  attempt  to  impose 
Wood's  coin  upon  the  kingdom,  as  enemies  of  his 
majesty's  government,  and  acknowledged  "with 
all  just  gratitude,  the  services  of  such  patriots  as 
had  been  eminently  zealous  in  detecting  this 
fraudulent  imposition,  and  preventing  the  passing 
of  this  base  coin."  At  length,  the  government, 
in  September,  1725,  found  themselves  unable  to 
continue  the  struggle,  and  refrained  from  any 
further  attempt  towards  making  the  people  sub- 
mit to  the  gross  and  scandalous  imposition.  The 
"Drapier"  had  been  throughout  known,  though 
not  betrayed.  He  now  came  forth  from  his  re- 
treat, beloved,  revered,  idolized,  as  the  deliverer 
of  his  country.  At  his  death,  in  1744,  he  be- 
queathed a  large  portion  of  his  property  to  found 
a  hospital  for  lunatics  and  idiots.  As  he  advanced 
in  years,  his  own  mind  gave  way,  and  he  became 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.      147 

a  fit  object  for  an  asylum,  such  as  he  was  provid- 
ing- for  others.  The  hospital  was  begun  in  1749, 
and  finished  in  1757. 

Previous  to  the  founding  of  Swift's  Hospital, 
several  other  public  buildings,  besides  the  Linen 
Hall,  had  been  completed,  or  at  least  commenced, 
in  Dublin,  since  the  century  began.  Of  these 
may  be  named  the  Workhouse,  (changed  in  1730 
into  a  foundling  hospital,)  and  the  Royal  Barracks, 
in  1704;  in  which  year  also  the  Castle  Market 
was  opened  by  the  civic  authorities  with  "beat  of 
drum."  The  foundation  of  a  new  Custom  House, 
on  what  is  now  Wellington  Quay,  was  laid  in 
1707.  In  1720,  Stevens's  Hospital  was  begun; 
in  1728,  the  "  Charitable  Infirmary"  on  Inn's 
Quay,  now  the  hospital  in  Jervis  street,  was 
founded;  in  1729,  the  "North  Wall,"  and  in 
1748,  the  South  Wall  from  Ring-send,  were  com- 
menced. In  1732,  the  building  of  the  College 
Library,  which  was  preparing  for  early  in  the 
century,  as  before  noticed,  was  finished,  as  was 
also  the  Mercer's  Hospital  in  the  year  following, 
on  what  had  been  the  site  of  St.  Stephen's 
Church.  But  the  principal  undertaking  of  this 
period  was  the  erection  of  a  building  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  parliament.  The  foundation 
of  this  magnificent  structure — which  since  its 
completion  has  stood  almost  unrivalled,  for  its 
size,  in  dignified  simplicity  and  elegance — was 
laid  in  1729.  The  site  chosen  for  it  was  College 
Green.  The  main  portion  of  the  building  was 
completed  in  ten  years  afterwards,  at  an  expense 


148  DUBLIN   IN 

of  £40,000.*  In  JL785,  an  eastern  front  was" 
added  to  afford  a  separate  entrance  for  the  lords, 
who,  however,  showed  their  authority  more  than 
their  good  taste  in  requiring  that  its'  columns 
should  be  adorned  with  Corinthian  capitals,  in- 
stead of  Ionic  as  in  the  rest  of  the  building. 
This  exception  in  the  architecture  is  the  only 
blemish  in  the  edifice.  Two  years  afterwards,  a 
western  front  was  supplied,  but  the  example  of 
the  lords  was  not  followed,  the  capitals  being 
Ionic.  These  additional  fronts  cost,  the  eastern 
£25,000,  and  the  western  £30,000. 

A  Royal  College  of  Physicians  had  been  estab- 
lished by  charter  from  Charles  II.,  renewed  by 
William  III. ;  but  the  metropolis  of  Ireland  had 
no  general  institution  for  advancing  science  and 
the  arts  previously  to  1731.  In  that  year,  seve- 
ral gentlemen,  of  whom  the  most  active  were  Dr. 


*  John  Wesley,  in  his  Journal  for  August  5-1,  1747, 
thus  speaks  of  Dublin:  "The  town  has  scarce  any 
public  building,  except  the  Parliament  House,  which  is 
at  all  remarkable.  The  churches  are  poor  and  mean, 
both  within  and  without.  St.  Stephen's  Green  might 
be  made  a  beautiful  place,  being  abundantly  larger  than 
Lincoln's  Inn  Square  :  but  the  houses  round  about  it 
(besides  that  some  are  low  and  bad)  are  quite  irregu- 
lar, and  unlike  each  other  ;  and  little  care  is  taken  of 
the  Green  itself,  which  is  as  rough  and  uneven  as  a 
common.  (It  was  so  then.)  The  college  contains  two 
little  quadrangles,  and  one  about  as  large  as  that  of 
New  College,  in  Oxford.  There  is  likewise  a  bowling- 
green,  a  small  garden,  and  a  little  park,  and  a  new- 
built,  handsome  library." — Editor. 


THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  149 

Samuel  Madden  and  Mr.  Thomas  Prior,  formed 
a  voluntary  association,  for  which,  in  1749,  a 
charter  was  obtained  from  George  II.,  under  the 
name  of  the  Eoyal  Dublin  Society.  Its  specific 
object  was  to  promote  husbandry  and  other  use- 
ful arts  in  Ireland ;  but  it  affords  to  its  members 
the  advantages  of  a  general  literary  as  well  as 
scientific  establishment.  It  now  occupies  the 'once 
ducal  palace  of  Leinster,  in  Kildare  street,  con- 
taining an  excellent  library ;  two  museums,  one 
general,  the  other  agricultural;  a  reading-room, 
lecture-room,  and  board-room;  with  schools  of 
design  in  painting,  sculpture,  and  the  fine  arts. 
It  has  professors  of  chemistry,  geology,  botany, 
natural  philosophy,  etc.  Its  extensive  and  well- 
furnished  Botanic  Garden  at  Glasnevin  is  sur- 
passed by  few  in  the  world. 

A  French  tourist,  giving  an  account  of  Ireland 
in  1734,  says  :  "  The  better  to  judge  of  this 
people  in  matters  of  learning,  I  have  passed  some 
hours  in  a  bookseller's  shop,  whereof  there  are 
a  great  many  in  the  capital,  (Dublin.)  I  found 
there  is  no  city  in  Europe  (cceteris  paribus)  where 
there  are  so  many  good  pieces  printed,  and  so 
few  bad.  They  do  not  believe  this ;  but  it  is  be- 
cause they  do  not  know  what  is  done  in  other 
places.  Printing  and  books  are  cheaper  here  than 
in  London,  but  dearer  than  in  Holland,  and  near 
a  par  with  France.  English  editions  are  sold  at 
the  same  rate  as  in  London.  But  the  prices  of 
foreign  books  are  exorbitant,  and  pass  all  bounds, 
the  prime  cost  whereof  in  Holland,  whether  they 
be  bought  new,  or  at  auctions,  is  very  moderate, 


150  DUBLIN   IN 

and  a  mere  trifle.  Coffeehouses  here  are  much 
frequented  :  they  have  the  best  English  papers, 
the  "Amsterdam  Gi-azette/'  and  three  good  news- 
papers, taken  out  of  the  English,  of  their  own. 
After  the  four  capitals  of  Europe,  Paris,  London, 
Rome,  and  Amsterdam,  Dublin,  I  think,  may  take 
place.  It  is  a  very  large,  populous,  and  well-built 
city.'  It  stands  on  near  as  much  ground  as  Am- 
sterdam, and  would  take  an  oval  wall  of  six  miles 
and  a  half  to  encompass  it.  According  to  the 
manuscript  account  (taken  in  1733)  of  all  the 
several  baronies  and  counties  in  the  kingdom  of 
Ireland,  as  the  same  were  returned,  and  are  now 
remaining  in  his  Majesty's  Surveyor-General's 
oflice,  there  are  twelve  thousand  houses  in  Dub- 
lin, which  at  the  rate  of  ten  persons  to  a  house, 
makes  the  number  of  inhabitants  amount  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand.  The  river  Liffey, 
over  which  there  are  five  stone  bridges,  runs 
through  the  middle  of  the  city :  ships  of  good 
burthen  come  up  to  the  lowermost  bridge,  and 
unload  at  the  Custom  House  quay.  From  this 
bridge  there  is  a  noble  view  down  the  river,  which 
is  always  full  of  vessels  ;  and  iii  winter  evenings, 
when  all  the  lamps  are  lighted,  you  have  three 
long  vistas,  resembling  fireworks,  both  up  and 
down  the  river,  and  before  your  face  as  you  pass 
the  bridge  from  the  old  town.  The  outlets  of 
Dublin  into  fine  fields,  the  banks  of  the  river,  a 
royal  park,  the  seashore,  etc.,  are  very  beautiful- 
and  in  this  far  exceed  London,  and  indeed  most 
other  cities  in  Europe  which  I  have  seen." 
The  "  three  good  newspapers"  referred  to  above, 


THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  151 

as  then  published  in  Dublin,  were  "Pue's  Occur- 
rences," begun  in  1700,  the  first  Irish  newspaper; 
the  "Dublin  Gazette,"  and  "  Faulkner's  Dublin 
Journal.  Essex  bridge  was  then  the  lowest  on 
the  river.  The  "  long  vista"  before  you  as  you 
passed  over  this  bridge  from  the  "  old  town"  is 
Capel  street.  What  would  this  tourist  have  said 
had  he  come  again  a  century  later,  and  stood  on 
Carlisle  bridge,  with  Sackville  street,  containing 
the  Post-Office,  Nelson's  Pillar,  and  the  Rotunda, 
northwards — the  lines  of  quays,  with  bridge  after 
bridge  succeeding,  up  the  river  towards  the  Four 
Courts  and  the  Park,  westwards — other  lines  of 
quays  down  the  river,  with  the  splendid  Custom- 
House,  and  crowds  of  vessels,  including  steamers 
not  a  few,  and  the  North  Wall  Lighthouse,  east- 
wards— Westmoreland  street,  terminating  with 
the  Bank,  the  University,  and  College  Green, 
southwards — and  d'Olier  street  branching  off  to 
the  south-east — and  all  these  ranges  well  lighted 
through  their  whole  extent  every  evening,  not 
with  the  dingy  oil-tins  of  that  now  olden  time, 
but  with  the  brilliant  gas  which  modern  science 
and  art  have  given  ? 

Handel  is  yet  held  in  remembrance,  and  will 
be  till  the  loftiest  strains  of  human  music  give 
place  to  those  yet  loftier  of  the  perfected  redeem- 
ed myriads  before  the  throne  of  God  and  the 
Lamb.  Dublin  is  interestingly  associated  with 
Handel's  history.  Fishshamble  street  is  now 
abandoned  to  the  occupancy  of  trunk-sellers  and 
such  like  crafts  :  a  century  ago,  it  was  a  resort  of 
the  fashionables  of  the  city.     There  yet  stands, 


152  DUBLIN    IN 

within  a  courtyard,  what  was  the  Deanery-house 
of  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  now  a  parish  school 
and  workhouse ;  and  lower  down  a  building  mean, 
neglected,  and  in  decay,  not  long  since  a  theatre, 
but  before  that  a  Music-hall,  erected  by  the  sub- 
scriptions of  a  charitable  musical  society,  and 
opened  on  the  2d  of  October,  1741.  Here  a 
musical  academy,  whose  members  were  amateurs, 
exclusively  moving  in  the  first  classes  of  society, 
held  its  meetings,  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Earl  of  Mornington,  father  of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, as  leader  of  the  band.  To  Lord  Morn- 
ington we  are  indebted  for  the  tune  called 
"Ferns"  one  of  the  most  exquisite  that  taste  has 
supplied  to  aid  the  utterance  of  devotion.  About 
six  weeks  after  the  opening  of  the  Music-hall, 
Handel  came  to  Dublin  on  the  invitation  of  the 
Lord  Lieutenaut,  the  Duke  of  Devonshire.  By 
the  "Account"  lately  published,  it  appears  that 
he  prepared  his  well-known  production,  "  The 
Messiah,"  in  prospect  of  his  visit  to  the  Irish 
metropolis,  and  that  this  incomparably  grand 
composition,  including  the  "  Hallelujah  Chorus," 
and  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb,"  m  which  earthly 
music  seems  to  have  reached  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
its  wondrous  power,  was  first  performed  in  the 
Music  Hall,  Fishshamble  street,  on  Tuesday,  the 
loth  of  April,  1742,  x'for  the  relief  of  prisoners 
in  the  several  jails,  and  for  the  support  of  the 
Mercer's  Hospital,. and  of  the  Charitable  Infirm- 
ary on  Inn's  Quay."  The  proceeds  on  the  oc- 
casion amounted  to  upwards  of  £^00,  or  82000. 
The  "  Society  of  Friends"  had  formed  congre- 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  153 

pit  ions  in  .Ireland  during  the  Commonwealth, 
and  were  numerous  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 
Early  in  this  century  those  in  Dublin  were  sub- 
ject to  gross  molestations;  but  after  a  while  they 
obtained  protection.  In  the  year  1727,  their 
yearly  meeting  in  Dublin  recorded  on  its  minutes 
a  "  declaration  of  censure  upon  the  practice  of 
importing  negroes  from  their  native  country" 
The  first  record  of  a  similar  resolution  in  England 
was  from  the  yearly  meeting  in  London,  in  1758. 
Hence  it  appears  that  the  public  movement 
against  that  traffic  began  in  Dublin. 

Subsequently  to  the  revolution,  and  particularly 
on  the  threatened  invasion  by  the  Pretender  in 
1715,  severe  penal' statutes  were  enforced  against 
Roman  Catholics.  Among  them  were  some  to> 
prevent  the  celebration  Of  their  worship.  What- 
ever was  done  in  administering  its  ritual,  had  to 
be  performed  privately  and  by  stealth.  No 
chapels  were  permitted,  and  the  priest  moved  his 
altar,  books,  and  every  thing  necessary  for  the 
celebration  of  his  religious  rites,  from  house  to 
house,  among  su>ch  of  his  flock  as  were  enabled 
in  this  way  to  support  an  itinerant  domestic  chap- 
lain ;  while  for  the  poorer  some  wash-house  or 
stable,  in  a  remote  and  retired  situation,  was  se- 
lected, and  here  the  service  was  silently  and 
secretly  performed,  unobserved  by  the  public  eye." 
In  consequence,  however,  of  serious  accidents  fre- 
quently occurring  to  parties  -thus  crowded  toge- 
ther, combined  with  a  disposition  to  less  severity 
on  the  part  of  the  government,  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant, Lord  Chesterfield,  in  1745,  permitted  the 


154  DUBLIN   IN 

congregations  to  assemble  in  more  safe  and  pub- 
lic places.  Chapels  which  had  been  long  closed 
were  reopened,  and  several  new  ones  were  sub- 
sequently built. 

But  Ireland  has  given  many  proofs  that  neither 
the  persecution,  ■  nor  the  toleration,  of  a  false 
religion  by  the  civil  authorities,  insures  the  pre- 
dominance of  tine  piety  in  the  community. 
Among  the  Protestant  denominations,  established 
or  otherwise,  in  Dublin  and  in  the  country,  at 
the  period  we  write  of,  formalism  was  the  order 
of  the  day.  Early  in  the  century,  when  Emlyn, 
co-pastor  with  Boyse  in  Wood  street,  avowed  his 
disbelief  in  the  deity  of  Christ,  Boyse  and  the 
other  Dissenting  ministers,  Presbyterian  and  In- 
dependent, proved  their  firm  and  zealous  faith  in 
that  great  truth.  Afterwards  John  Leland,  who 
had  been  ordained  co-pastor  with  Nathaniel  Weld, 
in  the  New  Bow  congregation,  since  removed  to 
Eustace  street,  was  honorably  distinguishing 
himself  by  his  various  writings  in  defence  of 
Christianity  against  the  determined  assaults  made 
upon  it  by  the  leading  skejDtics  of  the  age.  But 
by  the  middle  of  the  century,  when  Leland  was 
thus  earnestly  caring  for  the  outworks  of  the  gos- 
pel, complete  listlessness  towards  the  doctrines 
which  are  its  life  and  strength  and  glory  as  a  re- 
velation of  salvation  by  grace  through  faith  to 
depraved  and  guilty  and  perishing  men,  was  set- 
tling like-  a  death-chill  upon  the  dissenters  of  the 
metropolis,  and  upon  the  generality  of  their  bre- 
thren elsewhere.  And  from  the  account  given 
by  the  editor  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  the  Countess 


TIIE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  155 

-of  Huntingdon,  of  the  parochial  or  conforming 
clergy  of  that  period,  it  appears  that  vital  godli- 
ness was  well-nigh  quite  extinct. 

Such  was  the  deplorable  state  of  things  affect- 
ing the  highest  and  everlasting  state  of  its  in- 
habitants, when  it  pleased  God,  who  commanded 
the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  to  bring  among 
them  some  of  his  servants  bearing  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  his  glory  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  first  of  these  faithful  men-  was  George 
Whitefield.  His  sphere  of  ministry  embraced  the 
countries  speaking  the  English  language  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  With  an  eloquence  which 
now  flashed  and  rolled  like  the  elements  in  a 
thunder-storm,  and  then  tenderly  beamed  forth 
like  the  sun-ray  on  the  flowers  whose  head  the 
storm  had  drenched  and  made  to  droop,  did  he 
enforce  on  the  people  the  truths  which,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Messrs.  Wesley,  he  had  gathered 
out  of  God's  precious  word.  The  holiness  of 
God  as  a  Being  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  ini- 
quity :  the  perfect  excellence  of  the  divine  law ; 
its  demand  of  entire  obedience ;  its  adaptation,  if 
observed,  to  promote  the  happiness  of  man;  its  spi- 
rituality, reaching  to  the  most  secret  thoughts  and 
affections  of  the  heart :  the  corruption  of  human 
nature  :  the  alienation  of  man  from  God,  and  his 
moral  inability  to  keep  the  divine  law :  the  sen- 
tence of  everlasting  condemnation,  which,  as  the 
awful  but  righteous  consequence,  falls  upon  our 
race :  the  marvellous  kindness  of  God  in  so  com- 
mending his  love  to  us,  "  that  while  we  were  yet 


156  DUBLIN   IN 

sinners  Christ  died  for  us  :';  the  perfect  satisfac- 
tion for  sin  rendered  by  his  atoning  sacrifice  :  the 
unutterable  condescension  and  infinite  love  with 
which  he  receiveth  sinners  :  the  grace  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  :  the  necessity  of  an  entire  regenera- 
tion of  the  soul  by  his  divine  agency :  forgive- 
ness through  the  blood  of  Christ  offered  to  all 
who  believe  :  the  universal  obligation  of  repent- 
ance :  the  requirement  of  holiness  of  heart  and 
life,  as  the  evidence  of  love  to  Christ,  and  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Spirit,  as  the  author  of  holiness  : 
such  were  the  grand  truths  which  were  proclaimed 
by  the  TVesleys,  Whitefield,  and  their  coadjutors — 
derisively  called  Methodists — and  which,  in- 
numerous  instances,  fell  with  startling  power  on 
ears  unaccustomed  to  evangelical  statements  and 
appeals. 

Whitefield's  first  visit  to  Ireland  was  what  would 
be  called  accidental.  On  his  return  from  Ame- 
rica in  1738,  the  vessel  put  into  the  Shannon  in 
distress.  He  went  to  Limerick,  introduced  him- 
self as  a  clergyman,  and  preached  in  the  cathe- 
dral. Thence  he  came  to  Dublin,  where  his 
name  and  fame  had  preceded  him,  and  he  was 
most  kindly  received  by  some  leading  dignitaries 
of  the  Church.  He  preached  in  St.  Werburgh's 
and  St.  Andrew's,  to  large  congregations,  with 
an  effect  unknown  in  the  city  before.  This  visit 
was  followed  by  others.  When  in  Dublin  in 
1757,  he  preached  in  the  open  air  on  Oxman- 
town  Green,  and  was  in  imminent  danger  through 
the  violence  of  the  mob,  who  stoned  and  other- 
wise illtreated  him.     On  this  he  remarked,  that 


THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  157 

"  when  "he  first  came  to  Dublin  the  people  re- 
ceived him  as  a  gentleman,  but  at  his  last  ap- 
pearance among  them  they  treated  him  as  a<u 
apostle.'" 

Early  in  1747,  a  minister  connected  with  Mr. 
Wesley's  part  of  the  great  movement,  arrived  and 
preached  statedly  in  the  chapel  in  Marlborough 
street,  originally  built  for  the  use  of  the  German 
Lutherans.  Afterwards,  Mr.  Wesley  himself 
came  ;  and  notwithstanding  much  opposition,  his 
followers  increased  till,  in  1756,  they  built  the 
chapel  until  lately  occupied  by  them  in  White- 
friars  street.  Mr.  Wesley  often  visited  Ireland  : 
after  a  conference  in  Dublin  in  1790,  he  left  it 
never  to  return.* 

A  church  of  the  United  Brethren  was  formed 
in  1750,  by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Cennick  and  La- 
trobe,  who  erected  the  premises  still  held  by  that 
body  in  Bishop  street. 

At  a  somewhat  later  date,  the  Rev.  Walter 
Shirley,  rector  of  Loughrea,  and  the  Rev.  Richard 
De  Courcy,  afterwards  vicar  of  St.  Alkmond's, 
Shrewsbury,  visited  the  city,  and  occasionally,  but 
with  great  difficulty,  had  access  to  the  parochial 
pulpits,  their  doctrine  and  style  of  ministry  meet- 
ing with  strong  opposition  from  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities.  Some  respectable  individuals  who 
had  learned  the  value  of  the  gospel  and  felt  its 

":f  Mr.  Wesley's  Journal  abounds  with  interesting  re- 
ferences to  Dublin.  Since  bis  time  Methodism  has 
multiplied  its  chapels  and  its  members  in  Dublin,  and 
stimulated  the  Established  Church  and  others  to  zealous 
efforts. — Editor. 


158  DUBLIN   IN 

power,  opened  a  correspondence  with  Lady  Hunt- 
ingdon, known  to  the  world  as  having  consecrated 
her  all  to  God  her  Saviour ;  and,  in  connection 
with  her  plans,  the  old  meeting-house  in  Plunket 
street,  then  unoccupied,  was  engaged,  and  there 
the  true  doctrine  of  Christ  was  preached,  and 
prayer  and  praise  presented,  in  presence  of  crowd- 
ed assemblies,  often  including  persons  of  rank, 
by  a  variety  of  truly  godly  and  able  men — cler- 
gymen of  the  Establishment  and  dissenting  min- 
isters. Among  them  were  the  two  just  mentioned, 
and  the  Rev.  Rowland  Hill,  of  London,  and  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Pierce,  of  Birmingham.  Much  good 
was  done  by  converting  sinners  and  infusing  spirit 
and  energy  among  Protestants,  in  that  house  of 
worship.  In  1783,  the  late  well-known  Bethesda 
chapel  was  built  by  William  Smyth,  Esq.,  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
in  connection  with  the  forms  of  the  Established 
Church.  It  has  been  well  said,  that  at  the  time 
when  religion  was  at  a  low  ebb  in  the  Church  of 
Ireland,  and  evangelical  men  were  made  the  ob- 
jects of  ridicule  and  reproach,  the  Bethesda 
chapel  was  a  beacon  of  light  in  the  midst  of 
darkness.* 

We  will  -now  present  the  reader  with  a  general 
notice  of  the  principal  additions,  combining  archi- 
tectural distinction  with  public  utility,  made  to 
the  city  during  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  They  were — 1st.  The  Lying-in  Hos- 
pital, in  Great  Britain  street,  fronting  towards 
Sackville  street.     In  1745,  Dr.  Mosse,  eminent 

*  See  Memoirs  of  Robert  and  James  Haldane. 


THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  159 

equally  in  his  profession  and  for  his  philanthropy, 
opened  at  his  own  expense  a  large  house  in 
George's  street  for  the  accommodation  of  poor 
Lying-in  women:  this  was  the  first  institution  of 
the  kind  in  the  empire,  and  from  it  sprang  a  cor- 
responding one  in  London.  In  1751,  the  first 
stone  was  laid  of  the  spacious  premises  for  its 
accommodation,  an  undertaking  towards  which 
the  parliament  liberally  contributed.  2d.  The 
truly  beautiful  frontage  of  Trinity  College.*  3d. 
The  Royal  Exchange,  on  Cork  hill,  founded  in 
1769,  and  opened  in  ten  years  afterwards.  Pre- 
viously the  general  rendezvous  for  business  among 
mercantile  men  had  been  a  portion  of  the  Thol- 
sel.  The  present  Exchange,  though  not  one  of 
the  largest,  is  considered  one  of  the  most  richly 
finished  structures  in  the  city.  4th.  In  1773, 
the  Blue  Coat  Hospital,  for  the  education  of  the 
sons  and  grandsons  of  decayed  citizens,  was  com- 
menced on  Oxmantown  green.  5th.  The  present 
Custom  House,  which  is  considered  the  most 
sumptuous  edifice  of  the  kind  in  the  world,  was 
commenced  in  1781,  opened  for  despatch  of  busi- 
ness in  1791,  and,  with  docks,  quays,  furniture, 
etc.,  including  accommodation  for  the  Irish  de- 
partment of  excise,  had  cost  the  public,  by  the  year 

*  John  "Wesley,  in  his  Journal  for  April  0,  1758,  says, 
"We  walked  round  the  college,  and  saw  what  was  ac- 
counted most  worthy  of  observation.  The  new  front 
is  exceeding  grand  ;  and  the  whole  square  (about  as 
large  as  Peckwater  in  Christ  Church)  would  be  beau- 
tiful, were  not  the  windows  too  small,  as  every  one  will 
see  when  the  present  fashion  is  out  of  date." — Editor. 


160  DUBLIN   IN 

1811,  upwards  of  half  a  million  of  money.  6th. 
The  Four  Courts,  comprising  under  one  roof  the 
several  courts  of  Chancery,  Queen's  Bench,  Com- 
mon Pleas,  and  Exchequer.  These  courts  were 
at  first  and  for  a  long  time  ambulatory,  being  as 
often  held  at  Carlow  as  in  Dublin.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighteenth  century,  they  occupied 
a  building  in  Christ  Church  lane,  erected  for  the 
purpose  in  1695,  which  also  bore  the  name  of  the 
Four  Courts.  The  foundation  of  the  present 
edifice  was  laid  by  the  Duke  of  Rutland,  then 
lord  lieutenant,  with  great  ceremony  in  1786,  and 
it  was  subsequently  completed,  at  a  cost  of  about 
£200,000,  in  a  style  which  well  bespeaks  the 
majesty  of  the  law.  It  is  said  not  to  equal  the 
design  of  the  architect,  through  the  impossibility 
of  obtaining  ground  in  the  rear  of  the  premises, 
sufficient  to  allow  of  the  central  portion  being 
made  to  stand  somewhat  retired  from  the  line  of 
frontage  shown  by  the  two  wings.  7th.  Sir- 
Patrick  Dun's  Hospital,  the  foundation  of  which 
was  laid  in  1800. 

With  the  above  enumeration  we  might  include 
the  present  Essex  bridge,  built  in  1755  ;  Queen's 
bridge,  1768 ;  and  Carlisle  bridge,  opened  in  1701 ; 
also  the  erection  of  Granite  quays  on  both  sides  of 
the  river  for  confining  its  waters,  which  previously 
flowed  up  to  within  eighty  feet  of  the  college,  and 
occasioned  alarming  inundations  upon  that  and  the 
opposite  bank.  The  grand  canal  was  commenced 
in  1772,  and  the  royal  canal  in  1789,  the  former 
entering  the  river  below  the  city  on  the  south 
side,  and  the  latter  on  its  opposite  part  on  the 


THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  161 

north,  both  canals  opening  a  communication  from 
the  river  Shannon  with  the  metropolis  and  the 
English  channel.  But  the  greatest  undertaking 
of  this  period  was  the  building  of  the  Poolbeg 
lighthouse  in  Dublin  Bay,  commenced  in  1764, 
with  the  wall,  or  pier,  about  three  miles  in  length, 
connecting  it  with  the  city  at  Ringsend,  and 
having  the  Pigeon-house  Fort  midway  between 
the  two.  This  lighthouse  was  the  first  which  was 
provided  with  candles,  as  an  improvement  upon 
coal-fires.  About  the  same  time,  candles  were 
substituted  for  coal-fires  in  the  Howth  light ;  and 
in  course  of  time  the  candles  themselves  had  to 
give  place  to  argand  lamps  with  reflectors,  much 
to  the  advantage  of  the  mariner. 

The  silk  manufacture  of  Dublin  was,  in  1761, 
placed  by  authority  of  parliament  under  the  care 
of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  through  whose  ex- 
cellent arrangements  the  sales,  at  an  establishment 
opened  in  the  city,  for  disposing  of  silk  goods, 
reached  an  average  of  £70,000  a  year,  and  the 
silk  manufacture  itself,  in  Dublin,  attained  the 
highest  state  of  prosperity.  But,  after  a  few 
years,  the  legislature  forbade  the  society  appro- 
priating funds  to  support  any  house  in  which  Irish 
silk  goods  were  sold ;  and  that  prohibition  seri- 
ously affected  the  manufacture. 

About  1706,  two  persons  established  a  cotton 
manufactory,  and  employed  six  hundred  looms. 
Large  sums,  both  individual  capitals  and  even 
grants  from  parliament,  were  expended  in  pro- 
moting that  branch  of  industry,  yet  with  only 
limited  success.  The  trade  however  held  on,  and 
6 


162  DUBLIN   IN 

until  recently  a  respectable  amount  of  business 
was  done. 

In  the  year  1782,  persons  chiefly  connected 
with  the  university  associated  together  for  the 
purpose  of  investigating  general  literary  and  scien- 
tific subjects,  and  questions  connected  with  the 
ancient  history  and  circumstances  of  Ireland.  In 
a  few  years,  they  obtained  a  charter  of  incorpora- 
tion under  the  name  of  the  "  Royal  Irish  Aca- 
demy," for  the  study  of  polite  literature,  science, 
and  antiquities.  Its  "  Transactions"  present  a 
collection  of  papers  which'  do  honor  to  the  body 
from  which  they  emanate,  and  its  Museum  abounds 
in  articles  interesting  to  the  curious  in  what  be- 
longs to  Erin's  ancient  times. 

The  name  of  "  Dean  Kirwan"  is  still  mentioned 
in  Dublin,  though  half  a  century  has  gone  since 
his  day,-  as  that  of  a  perfect  master  and  model 
of  pulpit  eloquence,  who  thrilled,  and  almost  did 
his  will  with  the  audiences  he  addressed.  He 
had  been  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  conformed.  It 
is  reported  that  the  late  Mr.  Grattan  said  before 
the  House  of  Commons  that,  as  occupied  by  Kir- 
wan,  "  the  preacher's  desk  became  the  throne  of 
light."  He  confined  himself  to  appeals  for  char- 
ity, and  so  great  was  his  popularity  that  the  mili- 
tary were  in  attendance  to  keep  order  and  secure 
a  passage  to  the  church  for  the  nobility  and  gen- 
try, of  whom  the  vast  congregation  on  those  occa- 
sions was  almost  entirely  composed.  His  sermons 
were  most  carefully,  elaborated,  and  were  spoken, 
not  rend.  The  collection  upon  one  occasion 
amounted  to  eight  hundred  pounds.    By  his  pub- 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.      163 

lished  discourses  we  are  led  to  believe  that  his 
forte  was  delivery ;  including  appropriate  and  cor- 
rect intonation  and  action,  rather  than  any  thing 
extraordinary  in  the  quality  or  quantity  of  thought 
conveyed.  It  cannot  be  said  that  he  was  what  is 
called  evangelical.  But  it  is  reported  that  be- 
fore his  death  his  mind  underwent  an  important 
change,  and  that  he  spoke  of  his  former  preach- 
ing thus — "  I  can  compare  it  to  nothing  better 
than  to  Nero  fiddling  when  Rome  ivas  on  fire." 
During  the  American  war,  when  Ireland  was 
in  constant  danger  of  invasion  from  the  fleets  of 
hostile  continental  powers  hovering  on  her  shores, 
she  had  not  more  than  five  thousand  regular 
troops  for  her  defence.  The  town  of  Belfast 
applied  to  the  British  government  for  increased 
protection.  The  reply  was  that  all  the  aid  avail- 
able for  the  purpose,  was  half  a  troop  of  dis- 
mounted horse  and  half  a  company  of  invalids. 
The  inhabitants  met  the  exigency  themselves,  by 
forming  a  corps  of  volunteers.  "  The  noble  ex- 
ample was  ardently  followed  by  the  country  at 
large,  and  Ireland  soon  beheld  starting  up,  with  a 
scenic  rapidity,  a  self-collected,  self-disciplined 
body  of  forty  thousand  volunteers."  In  1778, 
the  first  Dublin  regiment  was  formed,  under  the 
command  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster.  The  whole 
force  reached  the  number  of  eighty  thousand 
men.  At  their  head  was  the  Earl  of  Charlemont. 
The  host  included  the  wealth  and  intelligence,  as 
it  did  the  popular  strength,  of  the  country.  The 
government  supplied  arms,  and  though  the  vol- 
unteers were  not  called -into  active  service,  they 


164  DUBLIN    IN 

received  the  thanks  of  parliament  for  their  loyalty, 
patriotism,  and  zeal.  But  the  confederation  con- 
sidered itself  formed  for  the  good  of  the  country, 
and  therefore  did  not  limit  its  views  to  repelling 
an  invader.  It  aimed  to  obtain  the  redress  of 
Ireland's  wrongs.  Delegates  from  its  several 
portions  met  in  Dublin  in  November,  1783. 
They  marched  in  procession,  -with  an  imposing 
military  display,  to  open  their  deliberations  in  the 
Rotunda,  and  continued  their  assembly  for  seve- 
ral weeks.  By  their  spirited  discussions  and  re- 
solves, they  obtained  from  the  legislature,  then 
sitting,  (and  of  which  body  not  a  few  of  them 
were  members,)  several  measures  favorable  to  the 
trade  and  independence  of  the  country.  By  de- 
grees, however,  fears  arose  in  some  quarters  that 
the  convention  was  going  too  far.  The  tide 
turned  and  ebbed.  Yet  numbers  remained  firm 
in  purpose  for  achieving  what  they  accounted 
the  complete  emancipation  u  of  their  own,  their 
native  laud."  They  were  encouraged  by  the  re- 
cent example  of  the  United  States.  The  French 
^Revolution  gave  increased  power  to  their  move- 
ments. The  members  of  the  body  were  for  the 
most  part  Roman  Catholics  ;  but  with  them  others 
sympathized  in  seeking  the  abolition  of  civil 
penalties  for  religious  opinions.  A  degree  of  re- 
lief was  granted  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  1793. 
Three  years  more  had  not  expired  when  societies 
of  United  Irishmen  were  formed  in  all  parts  of 
the  country.  Separation  from  England  and  the 
establishment  of  a  Republican  government  was 
projected.    Thousands  upon  thousands  were  being 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  165 

privately  drilled  and  disciplined  to  the  use  of 
arms  in  the  metropolis  and  elsewhere.  It  is  said 
that  their  numbers  amounted  to  half  a  million. 
The  leaders,  disappointed  of  aid  from  France, 
and  perhaps  finding  discouragement,  if  not  deser- 
tion, arising  in  the  masses,  thought  it  wise  to 
delay  the  crisis  no  longer,  and  May  the  2od, 
1798,  was  fixed  for  a  general  insurrection. 

Of  this  purpose  the  government  were  apprised 
some  months  before,  and  in  March  took  their 
steps  accordingly.  Many  persons  were  arrested  : 
t among  others,  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  who  died 
of  the  wounds  he  received  in  the  struggle  at  his 
capture.  The  city  was  placed  under  martial  law. 
"  Throughout  the  capital,  against  which  the  first 
fury  of  the  insurgents  was  to  be  directed,  and 
where,  from  its  extent,  there  could  never  be  a 
certainty  that  the  attack  had  not  already  begun, 
the  consternation  was  universal.  The  spectacle 
of  awful  preparation,  which  promised  security, 
gave  no  tranquillity.  In  the  panic  of  the  moment, 
the  measures  for  security  became  so  many  images 
of  danger.  The  military  array  and  bustle  in  some 
streets — the  silence  and  desertion  of  others — the 
names  of  the  inhabitants  registered  on  every  door 
— the  suspension  of  public  amusements,  and  al- 
most of  private  intercourse — the  daily  proclama- 
tions— prayers  put  up  in  the  churches  for  the 
general  safety — families  flying  to  England — part- 
ings which  might  be  final — -every  thing  oppressed 
the  imagination  that  a  great  public  convulsion 
was  at  hand.  The  parliament  and  the  courts  of 
justice,  wiih  a  laudable  attention  to  the  forme 


166  DUBLIN    IN 

of  the  constitution,  continued  their  sittings  j  hut 
the  strange  aspect  of  senators  and  advocates 
transacting  civil  business  in  the  garb  of  soldiers, 
reminded  the  spectator  that  the  final  dependence 
of  the  state  was  upon  a  power  beyond  the  laws. 
In  Dublin,  the  domestics  of  the  principal  citizens 
had  disappeared,  and  gone  off  to  join  the  insur- 
gents ;  while  those  who  could  not  be  seduced  to 
accompany  them  became  the  more  suspected  from 
this  proof  of  their  fidelity  :  they  remained,  it  was 
apprehended,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  being  spies 
upon  their  masters,  and  cooperators  in  their  in- 
tended destruction ;  and  thus,  to  the  real  dangers 
of  a  general  design  against  the  government,  were 
added  all  the  imaginary  horrors  of  a  project  of 
individual  vengeance." 

The  writer  of  the  above,  Mr.  H.  J.  Curran,  in 
the  Life  of  his  father,  the  celebrated  John  Phil- 
pot  Curran,  states  further:  —  "Upon  the  ap- 
pointed day,  the  explosion  took  place.  The  shock 
was  dreadful.  The  imagination  recoils  from  a 
detail  of  the  scenes  that  followed."  "After  a 
short  and  sanguinary  struggle,  the  insurgents 
were  crushed.  The  numbers  of  them  who  per- 
ished in  the  field,  or  on  the  scaffold,  or  were 
exiled,  are  said  to  have  amounted  to  fifty  thou- 
sand :  the  losses  upon  the  side  of  the  Crown  have 
been  computed  at  twenty  thousand  lives. 

Upon  the  rebellion  of  1798  followed  the  Legis- 
lative Union  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
a  measure  which  encountered  strenuous  opposi- 
tion in  and  beyond  the  parliament  of  the  latter 
country,  but  was  at  length  carried;   and  on  the 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  167 

27th  of  March,  1800,  the  Houses  of  Lords  and 
Commons  waited  on  the  Viceroy  at  the  Castle 
with  the  "Articles  of  Union/'  The  bills  passed 
in  College  Green  and  St.  Stephen's  for  consum- 
mating it  received  the  royal  assent ;  and  thus,  in 
all  due  form,  the  two  islands  came  to  have  thence- 
forth only  one  legislature,  as  they  had  for  cen- 
turies been  subject  to  one  crown.  May  they,  not 
merely  linked  together  by  law,  but  influenced  by 
the  fear  of  God  and  the  faith  of  his  gospel,  strive 
in  all  integrity  and  good- will,  with  wisely  directed 
and  unceasing  endeavor,  to  become,  according  to 
their  respective  capabilities,  blessings  to  each 
other,  and,  as  of  one  heart  and  of  one  soul,  an- 
agency  for  multiplying  blessing  to  the  world  ! 


.< 


168  DUBLIN    SINCE   THE    UNION, 


SECTION  VII. 

DUBLIN  SINCE  THE  UNION  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN 
TO  THE  YEAR  EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY. 

On  the  1st  day  of  January,  1801,  "  The  Im- 
perial United  Standard  was  first  displayed  upon 
Bedford  Tower,  Dublin  Castle,  in  consequence 
of  the  Act  of  Legislative  Union  becoming  an 
operative  Law." 

Widely  contrasted  were  the  feelings  with  which 
persons  recognized  the  flag  on  that  memorable 
morning,  according  as  they  were  favorable  or 
otherwise  to  the  new  relative  position  which  it 
sjmbo-llzecl  as  existing  between  Ireland  and  Great 
Britain. 

Great  as  may  be  the  aggregate  benefits  of  the 
"  Union"  to.  the  two  countries,  it  was  unavoid- 
able that  Dublin  itself  should  suffer  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  Irish  parliament.  The  measure  was 
to  the  metropolis  what  absenteeism-  is  to  the 
country.  According  to  Dr.  Walsh,  Dublin,  before 
the  Union,  was  the  constant  or  occasional  resi- 
dence of  249  temporal  peers,  22  spiritual  peers, 
and  300  members  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
This  unquestionably  created  and  sustained  for 
the  city  a  large  amount  of  business,  which  was 


I 
DUBLIN    §INGE    THE    UNION-.  1G9 

the  more  important  from  the  limited  extent  of 
Dublin's  manufactures,  mercantile  transactions, 
and  enterprise.  Yet  the  city  has  not  altogether 
sunk  under  the  privation,  as  many  of  its  inhabit- 
ants and  others  foreboded.  Changes  in  the 
sources  and  modes  of  industry  and  acquisition 
may  take  place  without  absolute  ruin  to  a  com- 
munity; and  such  changes  must,  in  the  progress 
of  soiiety,  frequently  occur.  Dublin  has  sur- 
vived, under  the  Union,  for  half  a  century;  and 
it  may  be  hoped  that  the  century's  end  will  see 
Ireland's  metropolis  far  more  nourishing  and 
prosperous  than  when,  at  the  century's  beginning, 
the  Union  flag  first  floated  on  Bedford  Tower. 

The  Irish  parliament  having  ceased  to  exist, 
the  stately  structure  built  for  its  accommodation 
'was  no  longer  wanted.  In  the  year  1783,  a  com- 
pany had  been  formed  by  Act  of  Parliament  and 
charter,  called  the  "Bank  of  Ireland,"  and  had 
hitherto  occupied  premises  in  Mary's  Abbey.  An 
Act  was  now  passed  in  the  Imperial  Parliament, 
authorizing  the  sale  of  the  edifice  in  College 
Green  to  the  Bank  of  Ireland.  Alterations  were 
made  in  it  to  accommodate  it  to  its  new  purpose, 
and  others  to  render  it  more  secure  if  not  more 
beautiful.  What  had  been  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, where  Grattan,  Plunket,  Flood,  Burke, 
Saurin,  an4  other  men  of  might,  gave  forth  elo- 
quent argument  which  might  have  honored  the 
Pnyx  of  Athens  or  the  senate-house  of  Borne, 
was  changed  into  the  bank  cash-office ;  and  the 
House  of  Lords,  with  its  tapestried  walls,  where 
nobles  assembled  in  deliberation  upon#ieir  na- 


170  DUBLIN    SINCE   THE   UNION. 

tion's  interests,  and  where  the  representative  of 
majesty  sat  on  the  vice-regal  throne,  was  changed 
into  a  room  for  holding  meetings  of  Bank  pro- 
prietors. 

The  month  of  July,  in  1803,  was  made  memor- 
able in  Dublin  by  an  insurrection  headed  by 
Robert  Emmet,  a  man  of  ability  and  of  a  reput- 
able position  in  society.  On  the  evening  of  the 
23d,  the  highly  respected  Lord  Kil warden j  chief 
justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  returning  from  the 
courts  in  his  carriage,  was  attacked  by  an  infuriate 
rabble  and  murdered  on  the  spot.  The  outbreak 
"  resembled  a  riot  rather  than  an  insurrection, 
and  was  alarming  only  because  it  was  unexpected ; 
for,  notwithstanding  the  momentary  panic  which 
it  excited,  in  a  few  hours  the  public  tranquillity 
was  restored." 

For  twenty  years  the  peace  of  the  city  remained 
unbroken  by  any  serious  disturbance.  In  1830, 
the  government  suppressed  the  Society  of  Friends 
of  Ireland,  the  Anti-Union  Society,  and  the 
Volunteers  of  Ireland,  as  endangering  the  public 
tranquillity.  During  the  year  following,  the  late 
Daniel  O'Connell,  Esq.,  M.P.,  and  seven  others, 
were  arrested  for  holding  political  meetings,  con- 
trary to  proclamation.  On  the  8th  of  October, 
1843,  a  public  meeting  to  be  held  at  Clontarf,  un- 
der Mr.  O'Connell,  for  promoting  the  repeal  of  the 
Union,  was  prevented  by  proclamation ;  and  on 
the  14th  of  the  same  month  informations  were 
lodged  against  that  gentleman  and  his  son,  with 
two  Roman  Catholic  clergymen,  and  five  other 
leaders-*in   the  movement,   for  a  misdemeanor. 


DUBLIN    SINCE    THE    UNION.  171 

Their  trial,  one  of  the  most  arduous  and  generally 
exciting  to  the  public  mind  of  the  empire,  though 
not  the  most  important,  which  has  occurred  in 
the  administration  of  national  justice,  commenced 
on  the  15th  of  January  :  on  the  12th  of  February 
a  verdict  of  "  guilty''  was  returned  \  and  the  con- 
victed were  committed  to  prison  on  the  30th  of 
May.  An  appeal  was  carried  before  the  House 
of  Lords,  who  reversed  the  decision  of  the  court 
below.  The  sensation  produced  upon  all  parties 
and  classes  in  the  city,  when  the  news  of  this 
arrived,  was  most  profound.  It  is  said  to  have 
taken  the  prisoners  themselves  and  their  most 
sanguine  friends  by  surprise.  Throughout  the 
city,  but  especially  on  the  way  to  the  Richmond 
.Bridewell,  where  they  were  confined,  all  was  in- 
tensely earnest  but  noiseless  stir.  In  a  day  or 
two  afterwards,  they  left  the  prison,  but  no  riot 
or  even  lesser  breach  of  the  peace  occurred. 

The  year  1848  was  marked  by  more  threaten- 
ing movements  than  had  appeared  since  the  re- 
bellion fifty  years  before.  On  the  18th  of  July, 
Dublin  was  proclaimed  under  the  Crime  and  Out- 
rage Act;  and  on  the  26th  the  Habeas  Corpus 
Suspension  Act  arrived  in  the  city.  But  the 
transportation  of  John  Mitchell,  under  the  Trea- 
son Felony  Actr  for  'fourteen  years,  the  violent 
proceedings  of  other  disaffected  parties,  with 
their  arrest,  conviction,  and  condemnation  for 
high  treason,  and  the  commutation  of  their  sen- 
tence of  death  to  expatriation,  are  things  fresh  in 
general  recollection. 

Of  calamitous   events    in    Dublin    since   the 


172  DUBLIN    SINCE    THE    UNION. 

century  began,  several  must  not  pass  unadverted 
to.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1832, 
the  Asiatic  cholera  appeared  for  the  first  time, 
and  hurried  off  its  thousands  of  victims.  On  the 
night  of  Sunday,  January  the  6th,  1839,  a  most 
terrific  storm  swept  across  the  city.  The  evening 
was  heavily  still  and  warm ;  about  ten  o'clock, 
P.M.,  the  wind  had  risen;  by  one  next  morning 
it  was  raging;  from  three  to  four  was  at  its 
greatest  fury;  and  it  scarcely  subsided  till  the 
Tuesday  following.  Just  at  the  midnight  of  the 
Sunday,  the  Bethesda  chapel  and  premises  were 
on  fire.  The  view  of  the  city  from  the  rear  of 
houses  on  the  canal  bank,  between  Portobello  and 
Charlemont  street,  was  appallingly  awful ;  the 
roar  of  the  tempest,  the  trembling  of  those  com- 
paratively sheltered  dwellings,  the  blaze  in  the 
distance  lighting  up  the  sky  so  as  to  render  ob- 
jects almost  visible  as  at  noon,  the  consciousness 
of  the  havoc  which  was  being  made,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, the  yet  far- greater  havoc  that  was  threat- 
ened by  the  flames,  awoke  sensations  which 
approached  what  we  might  suppose  would  be 
produced  by  foretokens  of  the  heavens  passing 
away  with  a  great  noise,  the  elements  melting 
with  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  and  all  things 
therein  being  burned  up.  In  April,  1849,  the 
cholera  again  carried  off  numbers,  continuing  to 
prevail  with  intermitting  violence  till  October. 
On  the  18th  of  April,  1850,  between  three  and 
four  in  the  afternoon,  a  storm  like  a  tornado  sud- 
denly burst  upon  the  city,  accompanied  with 
thunder,  lightning,  and  a  torrent  of  hail-stones, 


DUBLIN    SINCE   THE   UNION.  173 

many  of  them  nearly  {he  size  of  walnuts,  by 
which  property  to  the  value  of  £27,000  was  des- 
troyed. 

Under  the  head  of  joyous  occurrences  in  the 
course  of  this  period  the  loyal  Irish  rank  as  chief 
far  above  all  others,  the  visits  of  two  of  their 
sovereigns.  His  majesty,  King  George  IV., 
landed  at  Howth  on  the  12th  of  August,  1821, 
and  came  in  state  to  the  city  on  the  17th,  amidst 
the  warmest  acclamations  of  his  subjects.  On 
two  nights  the  city  was  illuminated.  His  majesty 
visited  the  public  institutions,  presided  at  the  in- 
stallation of  the  Knights  of  St.  Patrick  in  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral,  and  finally  embarked  at  Dun- 
leary,  thenceforth  "  Kingstown/'  on  the  3d  of 
September.  The  king  left  behind  him  favorable 
impressions  of  his  respect  for  the  religious  con- 
victions and  feelings  of  others.  It  is  said  that 
having  proposed  to  visit  a  nobleman  residing  a 
few  miles  from  the  city  on  a  Sunday,  it  was  in- 
timated to  him  by  his  lordship  that  the  arrange- 
ment might  occasion  much  disregard  of  the  Sab- 
bath in  the  neighborhood,  when  his  majesty 
promptly  changed  the  appointment  to  the  next 
day,  Monday.  It  has  also  been  stated,  that  when 
he  went  in  state  to  a  ball  given  by  the  Knights 
of  St.  Patrick  in  the  Rotunda,  all  the  knights 
being,  as  a  matter  of  duty  to  their  sovereign, 
present  at  the  entrance  to  receive  him ;  the  king- 
recognising  one  member  of  the  illustrious  order 
in  attendance  whom  he  knew  to  be  otherwise 
.minded  than  to  be  at  home  in  such  engagements, 
took  him  most  cordially  by  the  hand  and  said, 


174  DUBLIN   SINCE   THE   UNION. 

"All ! you're  here  :  well,  I  know  you  don't' 

like  these  sorts  of  things :  good-night,  good- 
night !"«  so  graciously  giving  him  liberty  to  re- 
tire, and  then  passed  on. 

The  evening  of  the  5th  of  August,  1849,  saw 
anchoring  at  Kingstown  harbor  a  royal  squadron 
of  ten  men-of-war,  with  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
yacht,  haying  on  board  her  majesty  Queen  Vic- 
toria, with  the  prince  consort,  and  others  of  the 
royal  family.  On  the  following  morning,  the 
queen,  accompanied  by  Prince  Albert  and  the 
royal  children,  made  their  public  entry  into  Dub- 
lin, where  preparations  on  the  most  extensive  and 
magnificent  scale  had  been  made  to  give  her 
majesty  the  best  possible*  welcome  to  her  Irish 
metropolis.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  she  was  everywhere  by  all  parties  and 
classes  greeted,  in  her  progress  through  the  city 
to  the  Viceregal  Lodge  in  the  Park.  At  night, 
the  illuminations  were  most  brilliant,  and,  in 
many  instances,  on  the  costliest  scale,  but  the 
throngs  out  to  witness  them  were  subjected  to 
the  heaviest  fall  of  rain  that  had  occurred  for 
many  years.  Her  majesty  during  her  short  stay 
visited  the  Glasnevin  Gardens,  and  some  of  the 
leading  public  establishments.  An  American 
republican  can  hardly  suppress  a  smile  while 
reading  the  following :  "  "When  inspecting  the 
fine  library  of  the  College,  a  copy  of  Sallust  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  having  in  it  the  autograph 
of  Alary  Queen  of  Scots,  was  shown  to  her  ma- 
jesty, who  was  pleased  to  favor  the  university 
with  another  autograph  still  more  interesting  and' 


DUBLIN   SINCE   THE   UNION.  175 

estimable,  by  writing  her  name  on  a  blank  leaf 
of  the  Book  of  Kells,  immediately  beneath  which 
Prince  Albert  also  affixed  his  signature,  each 
bearing  the  date  of  the  day  which  marked  this 
incident."  A  levee  and  drawing-room  were  held ; 
by  far  the  most  numerous  and  splendid  ever  seen 
in  Dublin  ;  and  the  uniformly  condescending  and 
gracious  manner  of  the  queen  on  all  occasions 
won  for  her  all  hearts.  The  elegant  neatness  and 
simplicity  of  her  majesty's  dress  particularly 
struck  the  common  people.  After  partaking  of- 
a  collation  with  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Lein- 
ster,  at  Carston,  on  the  morning  of  the  10th,  her 
majesty  and  the  Prince  Albert,  with  the  royal 
children  and  attendants,  went  by  rail  to  Kings- 
town, and  there  embarked.  The  scene  on  that 
occasion  baffles  our  attempt  adequately  to  describe 
it.  The  day  was  delightfully  fine.  The  myriads 
of  human  beings  crowding  every  spot  where 
standing  could  be  had  on  land  or  water ;  the  men- 
of-war,  with  other  sailing  and  steam  vessels,  in- 
cluding many  belonging  to  the  yacht  clubs, 
besides  boats  almost  beyond  count,  having  every 
shred  of  color  hoisted  and  every  yarof  manned ; 
the  roar  of  cannon  saluting  from  the  quay  and 
ships,  as  her  majesty  set  foot  on  board,  amidst 
yet  mightier  thunderings  from  the  densely  throng- 
ing masses  of  loyal  hearts,  whose  acclamations 
almost  drowned  the  roar  of  the  artillery;  the 
royal  squadron  moving  out  to  sea,  the  ship  La 
Hogue,  of  60  guns,  having  taken  the  read,  firing 
her  salute,  with  her  flags  all  hoisted,  and  her 
yards  covered  with  her  crew ;  above  all,  the  glid- 


176  DUBLIN    SINCE    THE    UNION. 

ing,  in  truly  royal  style,  of  the  Victoria  and 
Albert  close  in  along  the  pier  with  its  multitudes, 
her  majesty  on  deck  ordering  the  royal  standard 
to  be  lowered  and  raised  again  (an  honor  never 
done  before  except  for  a  royal  personage)  in  token 
of  her  gracious  farewell  to  her  Dublin  subjects — 
formed  altogether  a  spectacle  the  like  of  which 
no  party  present  had  ever  seen  before,  and  which 
all  judged  it  next  to  impossible  they  should  ever 
see  again. 

The  most  prominent  public  edifices  erected  in 
Dublin  since  the  Union,  have  been  : — 1st.  The 
King's  Inns,  commenced  and  opened  before,  but 
the  greater  portion  of  it  built  in  1802.  2d.  St. 
George's  Church,  begun  in  the  same  year.  3d. 
The  College  of  Surgeons  in  Stephen's  green, 
founded  in  1806.  4th.  The  Castle  Chapel,  a  gem 
of  architecture,  and  a  cabinet  of  carved  work, 
begun  in  1807,  and  opened  in  1814*  5th.  Nel- 
son's Monument,  in  1808.  6th.  The  General 
Post  Office  (far  excelling  for  its  size,  its  junior 
in  St.  Martin' s-le-Grand,)  founded  in  1814,  and 
completed  four  years  afterwards.  The  National 
Bank,  founded  1842  ;  with  the  termini  of  the 
South -Western,  Midland,  and  Drogheda  Rail- 
ways, in  the  past  four  years. 

The  literary  and  scientific,  educational,  medi- 
cal, surgical,  commercial,  benevolent,  and  religious 
associations  and  institutions,  to  which  the  past 
fifty  years  have  given  birth  in  Dublin  are  so  nu- 
merous, that  it  would  be  difficult  to  make  a  selec- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  explaining  their  nature 
and  objects  in  these  pages. 


DUBLIN    SINCE    THE    UNION.  177 

„  Notice  was  taken  in  the  last  section  of  a  re- 
viving attention  to  evangelical  truth  in  Dublin, 
particularly  in  the  Plunket  street  and  Bethescla 
chapels.  Persons  belonging  to  these  places  of 
worship,  with  others  of  the  Mary's  Abbey  and 
Bishop  street  congregations,  formed  themselves 
into  a  society  for  bringing  over  ministers  of  the 
gospel  from  London  and  other  places,  to  supply, 
by  their  visits  for  a  few  weeks,  the  lack  of  Chris- 
tian teaching  in  the  city.  Since  this  century 
began,  evangelical  piety  has  greatly  increased. 
Within  the  last 'twenty-five  years  particularly  has 
this  happy  change  been  manifest  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church;  evangelical  activity  prevails  in 
many  of  its  parish  churches,  ecclesiastical  activity 
in  all  j  and  to  these  have  been  added  several  vol- 
untary chapels  in  which  justification  by  faith  is 
constantly  held  forth  as '  the  only  doctrine  on 
which  man  can  safely  rest  his  Jiope  before  Grod, 
aud  which  is  to  be  the  guide  of  his  life  and  the 
joy  of  his  heart  while  journeying  to  immortality. 
It  is  no  unreasonable  digression  from  our  narra- 
tive, we  trust,. to  pause  and  affectionately  inquire 
of  our  reader  whether  he  has  experimentally 
known  this  great  truth  ?  Whether  he  has  ever 
felt  in  all  its  importance  the  reality  of  eternal 
things  ?  his  state  by  nature  as  a  perishing  sin- 
ner ?  the  necessity  for  repentance  from  dead 
works,  of  a  living  faith  in  Christ,  and  of  the  re- 
generative influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  Fifty 
or  sixty  years  ago,  the  Sacred  Scriptures  were 
generally  uncared  for ;  there  were  then  only  two 
booksellers  in  Dublin  who  sold  pocket  Bibles : 


178  DUBLIN    SINCE   THE   UNION. 

one  of  thern  had  but  two  new  ones,  and  the  other 
had  not  one  new  one,  though  he  had  some  two  or 
three  old  ones.  Now,  in  profession  at  least, 
"The  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only,  is  the  religion 
of  Protestants."  At  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury, family  worship  was  a  rarity  among  Protest- 
ant households  :  now  it  is  observed  by  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  them.  Then,  there  were  two 
or  three  Sunday  schools  :  now,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  mention  a  part  of  the  city  which  is  not  sup- 
plied with  them.  Then,  the  theatre  was  well 
sustained  :  now  the  reverse  is  the  case.  Then, 
except  the  Methodists,  scarcely  a  preacher  in  the 
city  opened  his  lips  to  warn  Romanists  against 
their  delusions  and  teach  them  the  gospel  :  now, 
by  many  ministers  in  and  out '  of  the  establish- 
ment, witness  is  constantly  being  borne  for  the 
doctrine  of  Christ  in  opposition  to  the  spirit  of 
antichrist,  and  large  classes  meet  for  discussing 
the  points  at  issue  between  the  two.  Then, 
practical  godliness  was  as  contemned,  as  it  was 
rare  among  Protestants  :  now,  perhaps,  the  dan- 
ger is  of  its  being  assumed  and  professed  where 
it  does  not  exist,  through  its  having  become 
to  a  certain  extent  frequent  and  respected. 

On  the  whole,  there  is  probably  no  city  in 
the  world  where  so  great  an  alteration  for  the 
better  has  taken  place  in  the  state  and  habits 
of  a  Protestant  population  as  in  Dublin.  But 
the  people  must  press -on. 

This  revival  of  sound  piety  among  the  Pro- 
testants has  been  accompanied  by,  if  it  have  not 
provoked  to,  greatly  increased  vigilance  and  en- 


DUBLIN    SINCE   THE   UNION.  179 

ergetic  working  among  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
the  community,  who  by  their  many  new  chapels 
and  other  edifices,  their  thronged  attendance  at 
their  places  of  worship,  their  large  pecuniary 
contributions  towards  objects  specially  their  own, 
and  their  clerical  and  lay  activities  for  their 
church,  might  well  put  to  the  blush  persons 
who  are  yet  slumbering  in  Protestant  denomi- 
nations. 

The  following  general  statement  of  the  po- 
pulation at  different  periods  during  the  last  and 
present  centuries,  will  enable  the  reader  to  judge 
of  its  progress  : 

In  1728—146,075.  In  1821—185,881. 

1753—128,570.  1831—203,650. 

1777—138,208.  1834—240,273. 

1798—182,370.  1841—232,726. 

1812—176,610.  1851—254,850. 

Showing  an  increase  in  Dublin  of  22,124  per- 
sons between  1841  and  1851. 

The  woollen,  linen,  cotton,  and  silk  manufac- 
tures of  Dublin  are  described  as  well  nigh  ex- 
tinct, notwithstanding  several  efforts  to  revive 
them.  "  Brewing,  iron-casting,  and  cabinet- 
making  are  the  principal  manufactures  in  a  thriv- 
ing state."  The  number  of  vessels  entered  with 
^cargoes  from  foreign  parts  was,  in  1840,  247,  and 
"in  1850,  462.  "  Very  laudable  exertions  are 
making  to  establish  a  respectable  foreign  import 
trade ;  and  from  the  business  habits  of  the  peo- 
ple, there  is  every  reason  to  anticipate  a  result 
beneficial  to  the  spirited  undertakers.     Several 


180  DUBLIN    SINCE   THE   UNION. 

cargoes  of  .tea  from  China  have  been  imported, 
and  also  importations  from  Calcutta  and  the 
Mauritius.  The  importations  from  the  West  In- 
dies have  also  increased,  The  best  symptoms  of 
the  improvement  of  the  trade  of  this  port,  is 
found  in  the  annual  amount  of  custom's  duties 
on  articles  of  home  consumption.  From  1821 
to  1832,  the  receipts  were  nearly  stationary  at 
about  £600,000.  In  1850,  they  had  increased 
to  £874,943." 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  former  half  of  the 
last  century,  Dublin  had  three  newspapers  :  it 
has  now  twenty-eight,  of  which  three  are  daily, 
sixteen  weekly,  five  thrice  a  week,  two  twice  a 
week,  and  tw®  monthly.  It  has  also  several  peri- 
odicals, among  which  are  the  Dublin  University 
Magazine,  the  Dublin  Review,  a  leading  Roman 
Catholic  journal  \  and  the  Irish  Quarterly  Re- 
view, lately  commenced. 

A  division  is  made  of  the  city  into  two  nearly 
equal  parts  by  the  river  LhTey,  over  which  there 
are  nine  bridges,  two  of  them  of  iron,  and  the 
extent  of  quays  along  its  banks  is  two  miles  and 
a  half.  It  would  be  impossible  to  compress  into 
a  small  portion  of  our  historical  sketch  of  the 
city  any  thing  like  a  detail  of  the  various  "  lions" 
of  the  place  :  for  those  particulars,  recourse  must 
be  had  to  the  guide-books,  with  one  out  of  the 
many  of  which  no  visitor  should  omit  to  supply 
himself.  The  greatest  objects  of  interest  are  the 
University,  with  its  Library  of  120,000  volumes, 
its  Museum,  and  various  other  buildings — the 
Royal  Dublin  Society  House,  including  the  Li- 


DUBLIN    SINCE   TIIE   UNION.  181 

brary,  Museums,  and  Schools,  together  with  its 
Garden  at  Grlasnevin — the  Museum  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy — the  Bank  of  Ireland,  especially 
its  Printing-Office  with  its  mechanism,  the  pre- 
cursor and  type  of  that  in  the  Bank  of  England. 
If  possible,  too,  the  visitor  should  obtain  a  view 
of  the  Bank,  with  the  College  on  his  right  hand, 
King  William's  statue  on  his  left,  and  Westmore- 
land street  towards  the  river — as  seen  from  the 
bottom  of  Grafton  street,  on  a  clear  night  with 
the  moon  at  full.  The  Castle,  particularly  its 
chapel,  the  Four  Courts,  Post-Office,  with  Sack- 
ville  street,  the  Exchange,  the  Custom-House, 
must  not  be  passed  over ;  while  there  are  various 
other  edifices  upon  or  within  which  a  visitor  may 
look  with  pleasure  or  with  profit,  as  the  case 
may  be. 

Dublin  has  a  position  above  any  other  city  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  except  London,  which  is 
the  seat  of  the  British  court,  in  being  the  resi- 
dence of  a  viceroy.  The  abolition  of  this  office 
was  mooted  some  time  ago,  but  it  seems  now 
agreed  that  matters  shall  for  the  present  remain 
in  statu  quo.  The  "  Castle/'  however,  is  cer- 
tainly not  what  it  ought  to  be  as  a  viceregal 
palace,  especially  compared  with  the  public  build- 
ings of  the  city. 

There  are  in  the  city  two  cathedrals,  twenty 
parochial  churches,  and  about  the  same  number 
of  subsidiary  chapels,  belonging  to  the  Estab- 
lished Church.  The  Methodists  have  eight 
chapels  ;  the  Presbyterians,  five  ;  the  Independ- 
ents,  three;    the   Society  of  Friends,  two;    the 


182  DUBLIN    SINCE    THE    UNION. 

Unitarians,  two  ;  the  Baptists,  Moravians,  Welsh 
Methodists,  Christian  Brethren,  Jews,  and  one  or 
two  other  bodies,  one  each.  The  Roman  Catho- 
lics have  nine  parochial  churches,  six  belonging 
to  different  orders  of  friars,  one  Jesuit  church, 
three  monasteries,  and  eight  convents.  Twenty- 
two  hospitals  or  infirmaries,  with  a  variety  of 
dispensaries,  administer  medical  or  surgical  relief, 
general  or  specific,  to  the  Dublin  poor.  The  city 
has  two  institutions  for  the  deaf  and  dumb ;  two 
for  the  blind  j  four  penitentiaries  j  several  educa- 
tion boards,  of  which  the  principal  are  the  Gov- 
ernment Commissioners,  the  Church  Education 
Society,  and  the  Sunday-School  Society  of  Ire- 
land; three  Ragged  Schools;  the  Hibernian  Bible 
Society,  and  some  others,  for  circulating  the  Scrip- 
tures, with  about  a  dozen  institutions  for  direct- 
ing or  otherwise  aiding  the  propagation  of  the 
gospel  at  home  or  abroad;  several  Protestant 
Orphan  Societies,  asylums  for  the  aged  and  in- 
firm, and  numerous  other  benevolent  agencies  on 
a  more  or  less  extensive  scale. 

How  much  the  city  has  extended  as  time 
has  rolled,  may  be  understood  by  comparing  its 
present  range  with  the  accounts  given  in  former 
sections  of  its  population,  streets,  etc.  Within 
the  last  two  centuries  there  has  been  added  to  it 
by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  liberty,  and 
nearly  all  the  streetage,  etc.,  lying  to  the  west  of 
the  Castle  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  Liffey. 
The  increase  includes  Mountjoy  square,  Rutland 
square,  Merrion  square,  Fitzwilliam  square,  and 
Stephen's  green  :  the  last  named  is  not  the  latest 


DUBLIN    SINCE   THE    UNION.  183 

formed,  but  we  introduce  it  last  for  the  sake  of 
stating  that  it  is  the  largest  square  in  Europe, 
being  nearly  a  mile  in  circumference. 

The  city  of  Dublin  is  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  a  lord  mayor,  whose  official  residence,  the  Man- 
sion House,  is  in  Dawson  street.  The  corpora- 
tion consists  of  the  lord  mayor,  fifteen  aldermen, 
and  forty-five  town  councillors,  elected  yearly  in 
the  proportion  of  one  alderman  and  three  coun- 
cillors from  each  of  the  fifteen  municipal  wards 
into  which  the  city  is  divided.  The  police  force 
of  the  city  and  suburbs  is  upwards  of  1000 
strong,  arranged  under  seven  divisions.  The 
military  amount  to  about  6000,  whose  principal 
barracks  are  the  Portobello,  Richmond,  Royal, 
Ship  street,  Mountjoy,  Island  Bridge,  Aldborough 
House,  Beggar's  Bush,  and  the  Pigeon  House 
Fort. 

West  of  the  city  is  the  Phoenix  Park,  the 
word  Phoenix  being  a  corruption  of  the  Irish 
Floiinuisge,  pronounced  short  Finniske,  and  sig- 
nifying fair  or  clear  water,  the  name  given  to  the 
ancient  manor  from  a  spring  in  a  glen  not  far 
from  the  entrance  to  the  Lodge,  and  long  known, 
celebrated,  and  much  resorted  to  as  a  chalybeate 
spa.  The  formation  of  the  park  began  in  1662, 
by  the  Duke  of  Orrnond,  then  lord-lieutenant, 
through  the  appropriation  of  the  above  manor, 
(which  had  reverted  to  the  crown  after  belonging 
to  "the  Knights  Templars  at  Kilmainham,)  as  a 
royal  deer-park,  and  the  purchase  of  some  ad- 
joining lands  to  render  it  of  the  desired  size. 
Other  additions  have  been  made  since,  and  its 


184  DUBLIN    SINCE    THE   UNION. 

contents  are  now  nearly  two  thousand  acres.  In 
the  Park  are  the  Viceregal  Lodge,  the  country 
residence  of  the  Viceroy,  a  simple,  unimposing 
structure,  with  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in 
demesne  and  gardens ;  lodges  for  the  chief  and 
under-secretaries;  the  Hibernian  School  for  Sol- 
diers' Children;  the  Military  Infirmary;  the 
Constabulary  Barracks ;  Military  Magazine ;  the 
Ordnance  Survey  Depot,  and  some  other  build- 
ings, together  with  the  Wellington  Testimonial, 
the  Phoenix  Column,  and  the  Zoological  Gardens. 
One  thousand  three  hundred  acres  of  the  park 
are  free  to  the  public. 

The  suburbs  on  the  south  side  of  the  city  are 
extending  fast.  The  township  of  Piatkmines  is 
the  most  frequented,  and  considered  to  be  the 
most  salubrious  portion  of  the  environs.  The 
Dublin  mountains  form  a  fine  background  to  it  as 
approached  from  the  city. 

To  the  south-east  of  the  city,  at  a  distance  of 
about  seven  miles,  is  Kingstown  and  its  Royal 
Harbor,  to  which  vessels  have  access  at  all  times 
of  the  tide,  and  which  is  the  port  for  the  mail 
packets  and  government  vessels.  The  Dublin 
and  Kingstown  Railway  affords  a  quick  transit 
between  the  two  places.  From  the  top  of  Kil- 
liney  Hill  commanding  views  are  obtained  of  the 
range  terminating  with  Dublin  to  the  north,  the 
Dublin  mountains  on  the  west,  those  of  Wicklow 
and  Bray  Head  on  the  south,  and  the  English 
Channel  on  the  east. 

Many  paragraphs  might  be  taken  up  with 
allusions  to  places  and  objects,  interesting  from 


DUBLIN    SINCE    THE    UNION.  185 

their  antiquity  or  otherwise,  which  stud  the  coun- 
try around  Ireland's  metropolis.  But  we  have 
not  room  to  introduce  them. 

And  now,  with  warm  assurances  of  our  good 
wishes,  do  we  bid  Dublin,  for  the  present,  adieu  ! 
Our  heart  was  with  her  ere  we  undertook  to 
sketch  her  progress  from  infancy  to  her  present 
matured  and  established  growth;  anc|  as  we  pro- 
ceeded, the  more  kindly  and  strongly  did  our 
sympathies  cluster  around  her.  She  has  had  her 
many  times  of  distress  and  peril.  Her  times  of 
prosperity  have  been  hitherto  few.  But  dawn, 
now  brightening,  promises  her  a  glorious  sunrise. 
Much,  as  to  its  being  "  a  morning  without  clouds" 
ushering  in  a  day  of  blessing,  depends  "on  her 
moral  and  religious  course.  The  righteousness 
that  exalts  a  nation  is  the  true  elevation  of  a  city. 


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